Phase I

During the conceptual design stage of the Palm Valley Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) project, PERC Water provided SunCor Development and Litchfield Park Service Company (LPSCo) Utilities with a guaranteed water quality, cost and construction schedule. Phase I was completed with a 4.1 MGD capacity to treat the wastewater to AZ Title 18 Class A+ effluent. The Palm Valley facility meets the highest water quality standards and can support approximately 16,500 homes. The Design/Build/Operate project delivery allowed SunCor and LPSCo Utilities to implement Class A+ treatment in less than 18 months from start to finish. PERC Water’s Asset Management Division operated and maintained the Palm Valley WRF for the first 2 years after start-up. SunCor then sold LPSCo Utilities to Liberty Utilities in 2002, and PERC Water trained and transitioned the operations of the Palm Valley WRF to Liberty’s operations staff.

PERC Water partnered with members of the community and the West Valley Fine Arts Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to championing arts education, to build a community park on the south and west sides of the facility. The park, which features walking paths with educational placards, gazebos and a variety of water fountains and streams, offers visitors a fun and educational experience on how wastewater is treated and reused in their community. PERC Water also enlisted local high school students to help create an art piece to be featured in the center of the park. The piece, titled “Recyclamation,” was given special recognition in the 23rd Annual Environmental Excellence Awards for “Environmental Education/Communication Educators, Students and Non-Profit Organizations.”

The Valley Forward Association awarded the Palm Valley WRF with the Environmental Excellence Award for its outstanding contribution to its physical environment, noting that our process allows for “the smallest footprint in the industry.” The facility was praised by the association for its “high-quality, usable effluent,” considered a “rare and precious resource to all of Arizona,” and for its innovative technology which creates “no offsite odor,” making “it possible to locate the facility essentially in the center of (the) community.”

Phase II Expansion 

In 2016, Liberty Utilities contracted with PERC Water and Overaa Construction to deliver the Phase II expansion of the Palm Valley WRF utilizing a CMAR with a GMP to deliver the current capacity of 5.8 MGD or approximately 30,000 homes. Construction required careful sequencing to ensure operations of the facility could be continued at all times, and protection of all existing equipment, piping, and facilities.
The project includes the addition of two new SBR basins, retrofitting the headworks with new influent screen, grit washer and removal system, new blowers/electrical building, new odor control system, replacement of filter feed pumps with two new vertical turbine pumps, replacement of the effluent pumps with new vertical turbine pumps and upgrades to the plant SCADA system. The Phase II expansion also included a state-of-the-art multi-purpose facility complete with offices and training facilities for Liberty’s water and wastewater operations staff.

Environmental Excellence Award – Valley Forward Association

Design / Build / Operate

• 4.1 MGD (Phase I)
• 8.2 MGD (Phase II)
• 6 acres
• Hybrid-SBR + Tertiary Filtration + UV
• Phase I: 6 months (design) / 16 months (construction)
• Phase II: 22 months (CMAR with GMP)
• Office, lab, and conference room
• Irrigation and groundwater recharge
• 100% privately financed
• Community Park featuring water fountains, streams, walking paths, education placards, and gazebos