Apache Junction Sewer District purchases $400K flocculant system

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

The Apache Junction Sewer District recently approved a $400,000 flocculant system that adds a liquid polymer so solids can coagulate and settle more effectively as they enter clarifiers.

The five-member sewer district board voted unanimously Oct. 28 to approve the equipment’s installation at the east and west secondary clarifiers to be paid from the capital and replacement fund.

The board in 2023 approved spending $300,000 for the installation but the project was put on hold, District Manager Darron Anglin said prior to the vote.

“It is $100,000 over. We had budgeted several years ago... This just got backburnered,” he said prior to the vote.

Because the wastewater treatment system is dependent on a biological process, the system occasionally experiences upsets and other events that can cause higher solids and turbidity than what are allowed in the effluent stream. The flocculant during those times will help to ensure permit limits are met and reclaimed water can be distributed. The system will not be needed when the process is running well, Anglin and Operations Supervisor James Drye wrote in a staff report.

The sewer district is an independent, public, nonprofit entity developed solely for the benefit of its customers and the Apache Junction community to operate and maintain a regional system for the collection, transport and treatment of sewage from the properties existing within its boundaries.

Board members to the sewer district are appointed by the Apache Junction City Council.

Members of the district board serve as volunteers who are responsible for setting policy and rates, adopting a budget and other high-level decision making regarding all aspects of the district’s operation and on-going business affairs.

By state law, board members cannot own 40 acres in the district, cannot be an employee or agent of a landowner who owns 40 acres or more in the district, cannot be an employee of the city or the county and cannot be an elected official of the city or county.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines, https://www.yourvalley.net/civility-checklist/.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.