Carefree – Liberty Utilities (Black Mountain Sewer) Corp. (Liberty Utilities) has owned and operated the Carefree Wastewater Treatment Plant (Carefree WWTP) located in the Boulders for more than 40 years,and has provided safe and reliable wastewater service to customers including the Town of Carefree and Boulders Resort residents. On Friday, November 30th, Liberty Utilities ceased the flows of wastewater going into the Carefree WWTP and instead began conveying its wastewater flows through an interconnection with the City of Scottsdale to the City of Scottsdale Water Campus.
In 2007, Liberty Utilities, the Boulders Homeowners Association, (BHOA)and the Town of Carefree entered into a series of discussions about closing the Carefree WWTP located in the Boulders. In late 2010, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) ordered the closure of the Carefree WWTP to address concerns expressed by the customers within the area of the Carefree WWTP. While Liberty Utilities operated the Carefree WWTP within compliance of applicable regulations, Liberty Utilities partnered with concerned stakeholders and agreed to close the plant as requested by the Town of Carefree, the BHOA and Liberty Utilities’ customers.
It was through the guidance of the Mayor for the Town of Carefree, new ownership of The Boulder’s Resort, The BHOA, the ACC, the Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO), and the openness of Liberty Utilities for finding a resolution that all parties began new settlement discussions in 2015. The settlement discussions were open,transparent and inclusive of all parties. Ultimately, all parties entered into a proposed settlement agreement to finalize the closure plans for the Carefree WWTP and filed it with the ACC in late 2015.The ACC approved that settlement agreement in April 2016 as they found it to be in the public’s best interest, considered the terms and conditions to be fair, just and reasonable and ordered a closure on or before November 30, 2018. That final ACC decision for closure of the plant was the culmination of a long process and efforts by Liberty Utilities, the Town of Carefree, BHOA, the Boulders Resort,the ACC, RUCO and various customer stakeholders.
As of November 30, 2018, wastewater flows are no longer being treated at the Boulders WWTP. The wastewater flows are now rerouted through existing Liberty Utilities owned infrastructure to the City of Scottsdale Water Campus, where the wastewater flows are now being treated. The closure of the Carefree WWTP and the rerouting of the wastewater flows to Scottsdale involved upgrading the commercial lift station at the Spanish Village commercial center, installation of anew force main down Tom Darlington/Scottsdale Road, and reworking the gravity sewer within the Boulders subdivision. In addition, Liberty Utilities had to purchase additional capacity at the City of Scottsdale Water Campus. These improvements and investments within Carefree and Scottsdale was required in order to close the Carefree WWTP. All required construction to route the flows to the City of Scottsdale Water Campus was completed as of November 30, 2018.Liberty Utilities will continue to provide safe and reliable services to our customers as the company has for the last 40 years.
Over the next seven months, starting in December, decommissioning of the Carefree WWTP is expected to take place and the former Carefree WWTP site will eventually be returned to residential use. The site will be closed upon approval of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The property will be offered for sale once it hasbeen approved for residential use which is currently anticipated tooccur during the summer of 2019.
“Our customers asked and we listened, said Matthew Garlick, President of Liberty Utilities – Arizona. While the final closure of the Carefree WWTP located in the Boulders took a while due to extenuating circumstances, it was always Liberty Utilities’ intent to work with our customers to come to a favorable resolution. Our priority is to provide safe and reliable utility services. We are committed to our customers and we will continue to be the service provider being as Liberty Utilities still owns, operates, and maintains all of the needed infrastructure to convey the wastewater flows to the City of Scottsdale Water Campus. We look forward to continuing to provide premiere services to our customers.”
Les Peterson, Mayor for the Town of Carefree added, “Closing the Carefree Wastewater Treatment Plant is a winning proposition for all involved. For the Town of Carefree, it will support residential home values and aid in economic development by assuring continued provision of safe and reliable wastewater services. For Scottsdale,it will increase revenues and provide greater operating efficiency to their existing facility. And importantly, for current users of the Liberty Utilities System in Carefree, it will significantly reduce the costs they would face from the inevitable closing of the antiquated Carefree plant at a later date.”
