South Shannon Water Facility Dedication

Yesterday, ADEQ Director Steve Owens & officials from the Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District hosted a dedication ceremony & tour of the recently upgraded South Shannon water facility.

"The upgrades to this vital facility will ensure that the treated water continues to meet federal & state safe drinking water standards, "Owens told the officials, staff & residents who came to tour the facility at 5781 N. Shannon Road in Tucson. "Protecting precious drinking water supplies is a top priority for ADEQ."

The original well head treatment system was installed by Metro Water District in 1997 after groundwater contamination was discovered & the area was designated a state Superfund site under the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF) program. The Metro Water District serves 50,000 customers.

The new 750 gallon-per-minute treatment system, which has been operating since June 2006, removes contaminants when water flows through a bed of granular carbon. To guarantee an uninterrupted flow of safe drinking water, the system includes 2 filter vessels, each holding 20,000 pounds of granular carbon. Metro Water District must also report drinking water samples to ADEQ monthly.

ADEQ paid the $1,017,000 cost for the design & construction of the new treatment system through its WQARF program funds.

ADEQ is continuing to work on cleaning up tetrachloroethene (PCE) contamination from the groundwater at the site.