The City of Bisbee has recently upgraded their wastewater conveyance system and constructed a new regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The new regional WWTP produces an Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Class B+ effluent that is currently being discharged into Greenbush Draw, an ephemeral wash located near the Turquoise Valley Golf Course. In 2005, the Upper San Pedro Partnership funded a study for the City of Bisbee to look at other alternatives for reuse or recharge of the treated effluent, with the objective of identifying options that would support conserving and storing water within the local aquifer system. Brown and Caldwell performed the study that examined the feasibility of using the treated effluent for Turquoise Valley Golf Course turf irrigation, recharging the treated effluent using surface infiltration basins, vadose zone injection wells, direct aquifer injection wells, and direct discharge to Greenbush Draw. Beneficial reuse at the Turquoise Valley Golf Course, with excess water discharged to Greenbush Draw was determined to be the best option. It is estimated that over 500 acre-ft per year of treated effluent would be reused on the golf course, substantially reducing groundwater pumping of the sole-source aquifer. The primary goal of this project is to reduce groundwater pumping from a tributary aquifer system of the San Pedro River Basin, which will indirectly augment flow in the San Pedro River, and credit the Upper San Pedro Partnership towards meeting a zero-deficit groundwater pumping goal by the year 2011.
Reuse of Treated Effluent Augments the San Pedro River in Sierra Vista, AZ
Authors: Mark A. Poppe; Russell B. McConnell (City of Bisbee AZ)
2007 WateReuse Conference