The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality gave an Aquifer Protection Permit that will allow BySynergy, the developers of Bella Terra, in Sedona, to begin building its wastewater treatment plant near Oak Creek. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality gave an Aquifer Protection Permit that will allow BySynergy, the developers of Bella Terra, in Sedona, to begin building its wastewater treatment plant near Oak Creek.
ADEQ Director Steve Owens said, “Under this permit, Oak Creek and precious groundwater resources in the Sedona area will be protected to the highest level possible.”
Owens added that if the plant were not built, Bella Terra residents would need septic systems, which would expose the groundwater and the Carroll Canyon Wash to a high risk of contamination.
The wastewater treatment plant will produce one-third the total nitrogen and less than one-millionth of the bacteria, including E. coli, that would be produced by those septic systems.
Effluent, treated sewage, from the plant will be disposed into three separate fields using a subsurface irrigation system.
No effluent disposal is allowed in Oak Creek or Carroll Canyon Wash.
The development is also required to maintain a monitoring well as an early warning system before any impact of the creek or the canyon can occur, according to Cortland Coleman, Director of Communications for ADEQ.
