<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Oq0Up_1BZ7tRKw00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Oq0Up_1BZ7tRKw00" width="1763" height="1175" ></figure>Archaeology Southwest, responsible for enforcement of a conservation easement at the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, has formally urged Oro Valley to undertake “a complete environmental site assessment” of the 2.5-acre former golf course irrigation pond the town intends to restore as an aerated water feature.In a May 11 letter addressed to Mayor Joe Winfield and council members, the Tucson-based nonprofit calls for “an independent consultant to determine the extent and chemical composition of the contamination within, below and adjacent to the pond,” President and CEO Stephen E. Nash and Vice President for Preservation and Collaboration John R. Welch write.Those assessments are “needed prior to any excavation, sediment or debris removal, demolition, or construction activities,” they said.Town officials did not have an immediate response to the letter, which was also distributed to representatives of Preserve Vistoso, the citizens group that raised $2 million to help purchase the former golf course that is now a 202-acre nature preserve.Oro Valley citizens have repeatedly, and passionately, called for the town to restore the idle, empty Golf Course at Vistoso irrigation pond. Oro Valley has awarded a $1.88 million contract to low bidder KE&amp;G Construction to demolish previous pond walls, line the new pond, install reclaimed water connections, build in aeration and circulation capabilities, construct a small parking lot and perform other work so the pond can be refilled.The letter comes just over a week after Archaeology Southwest said results of soil samples it took from pond sediments showed just under 50,000 parts per million of total fluorine, “an indicator of severe contamination,” the letter said.Nash and Welch claim that, on April 16, 2025, “without notice to ASW,” the town reversed its decision to rehabilitate the site as a desert garden without a pond, and instead voted to “move forward with the 2.5-acre pond . . . using reclaimed water.”“The very next day, April 17, 2025, the United States Environmental Protection Agency designated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are commonly found in reclaimed wastewater, as hazardous substances,” Archaeology Southwest wrote.Language within the conservation easement prohibits “storage, dumping or other disposal of hazardous or toxic materials” in the preserve, the letter reads. “The easement defines these pollutants in the broadest legal context as any hazardous or toxic substance regulated under federal, state or local law.”As with the golf course pond, Archaeology Southwest argues the council-approved pond, designed by the firm Kimley-Horn, “will similarly accumulate hazardous materials, and thereby violate the terms of the easement.”It wants “an independent analysis” of pond design and cost estimates, “with particular attention to the biochemistry of captive ponds in desert environments serviced by reclaimed wastewater” such as that provided by Tucson Water to Oro Valley.Archaeology Southwest said Tucson Water’s reclaimed wastewater contains “PFAS, 1,4-dioxane, pharmaceutical residues and other persistent contaminants that are not removed by current wastewater treatments.“These substances constitute harms and threats to public and environmental health,” it believes.Current design of the pond would restore it as a “predominantly static or ‘captive’ pond,” the letter suggests. “The low turnover or refreshment rate in the now-approved pond will cause the contaminants to become even more concentrated.” Aeration as proposed “cannot mitigate PFAS or other nonvolatile contaminants, and may even accelerate evaporation and contaminant concentration,” it said.“We look forward to re-establishing collaborations to realize the great potential of the Preserve as a community and environmental asset in accord with the uses and values identified in the easement,” Nash and Welch conclude.</div></body>

Block Source: tucsonlocalmedia.com

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

Archaeology Southwest, responsible for enforcement of a conservation easement at the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, has formally urged Oro Valley to undertake “a complete environmental site assessment” of the 2.5-acre former golf course irrigation pond the town intends to restore as an aerated water feature. In a May...

Group demands ‘complete’ pond study

NewsBreak

Archaeology Southwest, responsible for enforcement of a conservation easement at the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, has formally urged Oro Valley to under

Group demands ‘complete’ pond study

Comments / 1