The utility company EPCOR has decided to slow down its effort to build a water hauling station on an acre of land north of Phoenix.
The station would serve water haulers who truck water to the communities of New River and Desert Hills. Haulers had been using hydrants in the city of Phoenix, but are being cut off at the end of the year.
An official with the utility EPCOR said the company will not move forward right now on its plan to set up a water hauling station for residents of New River and Desert Hills.
EPCOR had been on track to build the station north of Phoenix on an acre of land leased from Anthem, a neighboring community. The station would be closer to New River and Desert Hills than other potential sources, making it less expensive for water haulers and, by extension, residents.
State regulators approved EPCOR’s prices and on Wednesday, the board of Anthem voted to lease an acre of land for the station.
But some residents of Desert Hills didn’t like the exact location, according to North Phoenix News.
Troy Day, vice president for operations at EPCOR Water, said in an interview that the company is putting the brakes on the plan.
“We don’t have any authority out here,” Day said of the controversy over where to place the hauling station. “So we want the communities to come together and work through some of those siting issues.”
Day said EPCOR wouldn’t profit at all from setting up the water hauling station.
"We were simply trying to help the community," he said.
Haulers are being cut off from using City of Phoenix hydrants at the end of the year.
