Infrastructure 
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has awarded a $300,000 grant that will allow Lake Havasu City to continue to replace septic tanks with new connections to the city’s wastewater system.
The grant will be used to offset the cost of closing 1,194 residential septic tanks, which are being connected to the wastewater system. The homes are located in the Palm Tree and Cisco neighborhoods in the northeast part of the city, where conversion to the wastewaster system is expected to be completed by next year.
The decommissioning process includes surveying the property, locating septic tanks, placing wastewater lines, and pumping and crushing the tanks.
The city’s wastewater pipes and treatment plant will help to protect the waters of Lake Havasu, which have been polluted by nitrates and other contaminants that leach from septic tanks to groundwater to the lake itself.
“This important funding means cleaner water for Lake Havasu, getting us one step closer to completing the historic conversion to a modern sewer system,” said ADEQ Director Benjamin H. Grumbles. “By working together we can upgrade leaky infrastructure and improve environmental health upstream and down and that’s why a regional collaboration will be a priority for ADEQ to ensure further progress.”
Lake Havasu City had been one of the largest cities in the United States to use septic tanks, with 28,000 residential tanks in place by 1996, when ADEQ banned tanks within a mile of four monitoring wells. Since then, the city has closed more than 12,000 septic tanks.
The program is funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act.
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