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A Maricopa County judge ruled Wednesday that Marana has the right to own and operate its own sewer system, the first step in the town's effort to control wastewater produced by its residents.

Last July, Marana severed a 1979 intergovernmental agreement with Pima County that called for the county to provide wastewater service to Marana residents.

Marana officials have said they want control of their own sewer system so the effluent produced from wastewater can be used to offset the town's groundwater pumping.

"The citizens should be in control of our community, not someone else," said Mayor Ed Honea, who called the legal victory a major event on par with the town's 1977 incorporation and its annexation of the Ina/Thornydale/Orange Grove area in the early 1990s.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Kristin Hoffman, through a partial summary judgment, ruled Marana "owns the non-flow-through portion of the sewer system within the town" and therefore has the right to operate that system. She also ruled Pima County has "no authority to provide sewer services to Marana without Marana's permission."

Pima County officials also claimed a victory because no ruling was made on who has control of the Marana Wastewater Treatment Facility, near North Luckett and West Trico-Marana roads.

"The central issue is the plant," said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. "That's the multimillion-dollar issue. We always anticipated they would get the pipes."

Marana annexed the plant in December, but Pima County sued to block the annexation, saying the county Board of Supervisors had designated the land around the treatment facility as a park.

State law prohibits a town from annexing a county-owned park without the county's permission.

Pima County officials said they expect control of the plant to go to a full trial.

"There were not enough facts in the record to make a decision about the plant," Deputy County Attorney Chuck Wesselhoft said. "We need to go through discovery, and the evidence from discovery could form the basis for another request for summary judgment or to go to trial."

Marana Town Attorney Frank Cassidy said the "heart" of the lawsuit was won by Marana, because its main concern was proving it had a right to run the sewer system.

He said the wastewater plant in question, if the town were to take it over, would serve only as a stopgap while Marana works on building a newer facility on the northern end of town.

Cassidy said the 1979 agreement stated Pima County had the right to provide sewer service within town limits until Marana was ready to take it over.

A 1988 election, in which only 289 votes were cast, granted Marana the authority to own and operate a sewer system.

In the short term, officials said Pima County probably will continue to maintain the sewer pipes, even though there is no agreement with Marana, so neither the county nor Marana will be in violation of state or federal regulations.

In the long term, portions of the sewer system in Marana that run into the regional Ina Road treatment plant and pumping stations that handle waste from Marana and other parts of the county need to be separated somehow.

"We're still scratching our heads about what our responsibilities are and what Marana's responsibilities are and how we proceed," Wesselhoft said.

And although Hoffman ruled simply that Marana now owns the sewer pipes in the town, Pima County said it still believes the Wastewater Reclamation Department is owed some compensation because connection fees from Marana do not cover the entire cost of the sewer system.

In preparation for taking over the system, Marana officials say they have completed the technical and planning processes necessary, including a rate study.

In February, the Town Council approved a contract with Algonquin Environmental Services, a Canadian company, to run the system.

Algonquin operates five other water or wastewater operations in Arizona, including ones in Rio Rico and the Sierra Vista area.

Cassidy said he hopes Wednesday's ruling will prompt Pima County to sit down and discuss an adequate transition of Marana's sewer operation, which would be the subject of a new intergovernmental agreement. All previous attempts to do so, he said, have been rebuffed by county officials.

"We hope now they'll be willing to come to the table," Cassidy said.