Tucson Water aids Marana counterpart during pump failure
By Erica Meltzer
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson Water stepped in to provide water to 700 homes in Marana's Continental Reserve area after a pump on a Marana Water Department well failed.

Marana Water Department Director Brad DeSpain said an automated alarm system signaled the volume of water being pumped at the Continental Reserve well had dropped dramatically.

No customers lost water service, but some may have noticed a loss of pressure.

However, the water in the reservoir serving the area dropped rapidly, and Marana asked Tucson Water to open an interconnect between the two water systems.

Tucson Water moved quickly to open a connection to the Marana system, despite the two governments being pitted in a bitter public battle over effluent and contributions to an Indian water rights settlement.

"Tucson Water was very helpful and backed us up," DeSpain said.

Water from Tucson Water started flowing at a rate of about 400 gallons per minute. Marana will be billed for the water at the commercial rate.

DeSpain said he expected the problem to be fixed. The breakdown was caused by a malfunction in the pump's bowls, which take water from the well into the pump. DeSpain said he expects the pump repair to cost $10,000.

Marana has sued Pima County because the town wants to take over the county sewer system within the town.

Tucson officials object to Marana's plans because the sewer lines Marana wants include areas served by Tucson Water, and the city sees the effluent derived from that water as its resource.

Marana officials have accused Tucson Water of holding up road improvement projects and denying service to Marana property owners who are within Tucson Water's service area in retaliation.

Marana's and Tucson's water-service agreement expired in 2005, and the two sides haven't negotiated a new one.

But city officials said there never was any doubt Tucson Water would help Marana.

"The most important thing is that when people need water, they get it," said Tucson Water spokesman Mitch Basefsky. "We're a water provider. They need water. We have water. We provide it."

Tucson Water has enough excess capacity to help Marana without affecting its ability to serve its own customers, Basefsky said.

Assistant City Attorney Chris Avery said the city has a long-standing arrangement to provide water on an emergency basis to any water company that needs it. The necessary paperwork is worked out later and is fairly standard. The lack of a water-service agreement between the two municipalities does not affect the city's ability to provide assistance.

Avery said such arrangements are in everyone's best interest because Tucson Water might someday need assistance from another water company if one of its pumps has an unexpected problem.

Marana Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat said he expected to receive assistance from Tucson Water and had no concerns that other disputes might spill over.