Cave Creek approves pair of amended agreements for water services

By Jeff Wendt
Mail

The Cave Creek Town Council approved a pair of amended agreements with GHD Inc. on Sept. 15 for repairs with the water system in Cave Creek.

The first agreement, for an amount not to exceed $69,361, allows the Pall membrane filters, which were installed from 2019 through 2024, to become a permanent part of the treatment process.

The permits for the Pall membranes expired in 2024, according to Utilities Director Shawn Kreuzwiesner.

“So what we have in front of you right now is a scope of work where there’s been a lot of work done already,” Kreuzwiesner said. “So, what actually in the second phase of the work, they actually had to go through alternatives. That was part of the evaluation to prove that the Pall membrane units in their current configuration in the trailers at the back side of the site was the best.”

The town staff and GHD have held several meetings, and now have received clear direction from Maricopa County Environmental Services Department as to what improvements will be required at the Water Treatment Plant.

The contract amendment will provide the funding to allow GHD to prepare the final design for submittal to MCESD.

The second agreement with GHD, for an amount not to exceed $40,939, is in reference to services associated with the repair of a 10-inch sewer line crossing Andorra Hills Wash.

During the design phase of the project, Maricopa County Flood Control requested that a scour analysis be completed prior to a permit being issued for the work, which was not included in the original scope of work for the project.

“Why is it taking so long? Partly because of some of the other issues we’ve had to deal with, including the failure of the Rancho Manana force main a few years ago,” Kreuzwiesner said. “The funding that was actually put in the CIP two years ago for this project got consumed by that project. So we were paused by that in order to get those emergency repairs done.

“I’d like to complete this project with GHD,” Kreuzwiesner added. “We’ve reached out to the county to re-engage them. They would like us to do what a scour analysis. We want to prove that what we’re doing is not going to impact and cause more scour damaging to this wash.”

Council member Tom McGuire asked if there would be any interruption in service with the scour analysis.

“No,” Kreuzwiesner said. “Our thought would be because it’s not just like a sewer lining project which we can do with back trucks for the day, this will probably require a bypass pump. So we’ll have to set up a pump, and pump around the operation.”

Jeff Wendt
Reporter | Phoenix/Cave Creek

jwendt@iniusa.org

Meet Jeff
Jeff Wendt started at Independent Newsmedia in January 2023, after 25 years working for Gannett and The Arizona Republic. Started as a high school sports scoretaker, worked up to reporting high school sports and then became an associate high school sports editor in 2002. Also worked in the Design Studio as a copy editor.

Community: Jeff serves on the Board of Elders at his local church.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication

Random fact: Attended Game 2 of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Playing video games (yes still the kid in me), watching reality TV, playing poker.