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Sahuarita's Town Council last week approved two measures to allow sewage from the town's wastewater-treatment plant to be hauled to a county-operated plant.

Five council members at the Aug. 9 special meeting approved an agreement to authorize the town to transport sewage that cannot be processed at the town's wastewater-treatment plant to the county facility in Green Valley.

The council also approved 5-0 a contract with Phoenix-based Ecology Control Industries to haul the sewage 9.3 miles to the facility at 2201 S. Old Nogales Highway.

The contract requires the town to pay a $500-per-month equipment fee, and $95 per hour to haul sewage. Company officials estimate hauling an average of 10,000 to 50,000 gallons a day, although they said it could be higher at peak flows.

Larry Dobrowski, assistant town manager, said the town will pay the transport and processing costs with money from contingency and reserve funds.

The town's wastewater-treatment plant is very near its 490,000 gallon-per-day capacity to process wastewater.

Exceeding that amount would violate the terms of the state-issued aquifer-protection permit and subject the town to fines and other penalties.

Town officials hope to get some relief from the problem when an interim expansion is completed by early November, boosting the plant's capacity to 690,000 gallons per day.

A larger expansion to be completed in early 2009 would boost the plant's daily capacity to 1.5 million gallons.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the town's request on Aug. 7 but did not commit to extending the agreement beyond the end of the year, as town officials had requested.

In response to a question by Councilman Scott Downs during the Aug. 9 council meeting, Dobrowski said staffers requested that the two items be passed as emergency measures so they could be implemented more quickly.

"Putting it out to bid would delay it past the time of critical need," Dobrowski said.

Only three council members were physically present at the unusual special meeting in the wastewater plant's conference room: Vice Mayor Phil Conklin, Councilman John Sullivan and Downs.

Councilman Charles Oldham and Mayor Lynne Skelton attended via telephone from a conference they were attending in Portland, Ore. Council members Roger Minor and Marty Moreno were absent.