PUBLIC NOTICE – City of Willcox Willcox Wastewater Treatment Plant

PROPOSED ARIZONA POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (AZPDES) RENEWAL PERMIT

Pursuant to the Clean Water Act and in accordance with Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) R18-9-A907, the Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) proposes to issue an Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) Permit to discharge pollutants to Waters of the United States to the following applicant, subject to certain effluent limitations and special conditions:

Public Notice No.15-23

AZPDES Permit No. AZ0025771

City of Willcox

101 South Railroad Avenue, Suite B

Willcox, Arizona 85643

The City of Willcox applied for a renewal AZPDES permit for the discharge of up to 0.6 million gallons per day (mgd) of treated domestic wastewater from the City of Willcox Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to Lake Cochise in the San Pedro-Willcox Playa-Rio Yaqui River Basin in Township 14S, Range 25E, Section 7, in Cochise County, Arizona. The City of Willcox WWTP is a publicly owned treatment works that receives domestic wastewater from residential and commercial sources in Willcox. Sludge is accumulated at the bottom of the lagoons and will be removed when necessary by dredging and thickening, and disposed off site in accordance with state and federal regulations.

The permit and fact sheet may be viewed online at http://www.azdeq.gov/cgi-bin/vertical.pl by typing the permit number in the box left of “Search Event”. The public notice and related documentation also are available for public review, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the ADEQ Records Center, 1110 W. Washington St., Phoenix, Arizona, 85007. Please call (602) 771-4380 or e-mail recordscenter@azdeq.gov 24 hours in advance to schedule an appointment to review the file.

Persons may submit comments or request a public hearing on the proposed action in writing, to Chiou Chen, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division, 1110 W. Washington St., 5415B-3, Phoenix, Arizona 85007. All written comments received by ADEQ by the close of business on the date 30 days after publication of this notice will be considered in the final permit decision. A public hearing request must be in writing and must include the reasons for such request. If there is a significant degree of public interest, the Director will hold a hearing in accordance with A.A.C. R18-9-908(B).

ADOT seeks input on five-year transportation plan on May 9 in Flagstaff.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation continues to gather comments on the 2015-2019 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program while reaching out to the public and communities statewide for their input on the direction of the program over the next five years.

The third in the series of public hearings will be held in the City of Flagstaff Council Chambers, 211 W. Aspen Ave., Flagstaff, AZ 86001. The monthly State Transportation Board meeting will follow the public hearing.

The Five-Year Program is updated every year and serves as a blueprint that details where, when and how regional, state and federal funding will be spent for projects over the next five years to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure. This includes highways, bridges, transit and aviation.

Much like the current Five-Year Program, the 2015-2019 Tentative Five-Year Program reflects a major focus on preserving the existing state highway system to keep it in good repair, while moving some programmed projects forward. ADOT must prioritize projects due to stagnant revenue from the gas and vehicle license taxes and from decreased federal funding — all of which support the Five-Year Program. Last year, ADOT cut $350 million from the 2014-2018 Five-Year Program because of substantially decreased revenue dedicated to transportation. No additional funding cuts are forecast for the 2015-2019 Five-Year Program; however, overall state and federal transportation funding continues to be flat.

The 2015-2019 Tentative Five-Year Program includes a three percent increase in preservation spending over the 2014-2018 Program, with a steady increase in preservation funding over the next 10 years. Preserving the system means protecting our investment of $18.4 billion; this is the estimated value of the state highway system. The funding for the 2015-2019 Tentative Five-Year Program looks like this:

  • Greater Arizona: $1.8 billion over five years (60 percent for preservation, 11 percent for expansion and 29 percent for modernization)
  • Maricopa County region: $1.7 billion over five years
  • Pima County region: $349 million over five years Aviation: $1.1 billion over five years

Both the Maricopa and Pima county regions have independent revenue streams established through voter-approved sales tax increases.

The 2015-2019 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program is available for public review and comment at azdot.gov/fiveyearprogram. ADOT has developed a “how to read it” guide and welcomes feedback at fiveyearprogram@azdot.gov.

The State Transportation Board will consider all public comments received by May 20. The first public hearing was held in March in Phoenix. The third and final public hearing will be held on May 9 in Flagstaff.

The board is expected to adopt the final 2015-2019 Five-Year Program at the June 13 meeting in Willcox at the City of Willcox Council Chambers, 300 W. Rex Allen Drive.