![]() ![]() But Phoenix officials worry the facilities will not be properly regulated. The latest version of the bill states that facilities must “meet or exceed aquifer water quality standards before discharge” as determined by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Opponents have also raised concerns about water quality. “So if everybody starts piecemealing off their own wastewater, the whole system starts getting very discombobulated quickly, and there’s an issue of fairness as well.”įorty-one percent of Arizona’s water supply comes from groundwater, according to the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. “There’s a lot of people that want to do this,” said Spencer Kamps, vice president of legislative affairs for the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona. The industrial sector demand for water more than doubled from 1985 to 2017, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources. The bill’s opponents argue that once the doors open for one facility, more manufacturers will want to treat their own effluent instead of letting water providers do the job. “This should be happening at the negotiating table, not at opening statutes.” “Nestlé should work with EPCOR to resolve these contractual issues,” said Dean Miller, the contract lobbyist for the Water Utilities Association of Arizona. Organizations including the Water Utilities Association of Arizona believe that Nestlé should follow Rauch’s lead. “And I have no doubt that we can do something similar with Nestlé, or anyone else that needs it.” “We figured it out,” Loquvam said of the agreement with Rauch. Rauch is building a plant in the Glendale area that would produce Red Bull energy drinks. Rauch recently dropped its support of the bill after an agreement was made between EPCOR and the city of Surprise. SB 1660 was originally supported by Rauch Fruit Juices, which ran into a similar problem with EPCOR last year. Loquvam said he is “not aware of any statement from EPCOR” indicating the company agrees with the Nestlé plan. All parties involved agreed that this was an effective and efficient supply solution.” “Unfortunately, their industrial discharge capacity allocation offered does not sufficiently meet our needs to support the business. “We’ve been working with the local utility for several months and continue to engage with EPCOR in parallel to the SB 1660 process,” a Nestlé spokesperson said in the emailed statement. The world’s largest food and beverage company is seeking the change because the amount of wastewater that would be generated by the plant is too much for EPCOR to handle.Ī Nestlé official said in an email that the legislation would help create a sustainable framework for businesses investing in on-site water management, which will support Arizona’s water infrastructure now and into the future. Tim Dunn, R-Yuma, was created at the behest of Nestlé, which plans to build a $675 million plant for creamer production on 144 acres at 150th and Northern avenues in Glendale. “But the bottom line is that they would be able to create long-term storage credits and use those to year over year over year, increasing the amount that they deplete from the aquifer,” Loquvam said. ![]() “And they have used, through pretty clever, high-paid communication consultants to characterize this. “This creates a means by which companies can accelerate their groundwater pumping,” said Thomas Loquvam, general counsel for EPCOR, the water company that would serve the Nestlé site. They fear that Nestlé will be just the first of many industrial users that will flood in to take advantage of the new law, if the bill passes. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, points out that it will be a net gain of 25% in the groundwater for other users, and called the plan “the best aquifer management program the state will have.”īut its many critics – which include water utilities, home builders and the city of Phoenix, among others – said the bill would create a fragmented system, overburden the state Department of Environmental Quality and possibly degrade the quality of Arizona’s water. Companies could use those credits later to draw out 75% of the treated water they put in the ground. Under SB 1660, industrial plants would not only be allowed to treat their wastewater on-site, but they would also earn long-term storage credits for treated water they put back in the aquifer. PHOENIX – A bill to let Nestlé treat wastewater at its proposed Glendale plant and pump that water into the aquifer, earning water storage credits to draw on in the future, is raising fears that it will pit businesses against other water users. ![]()
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