ICE detention center would triple water use, force Surprise to speed up new well

A proposed immigration detention center in Surprise would use about three times as much water as its warehouse was designed for, and the city would need to drill a new well years ahead of schedule to supply it, according to a federal environmental review.

The draft environmental assessment, released by the Department of Homeland Security, projects the facility would use about 190,000 gallons of water on an average day. The building was designed to use about 63,000 gallons a day.

It was just one of the findings in the several hundred-page report released Monday.

“Operation of the Proposed Action would substantially increase water demand above that anticipated for the existing industrial development,” the assessment reads.

To meet that demand, Surprise would need to build a new municipal well about five years earlier than planned and expand arsenic treatment at a city water plant, according to the report.

The facility, which is owned by ICE, would pay for the work, according to the report.

It would also fall under a city water rule the Surprise City Council adopted Jan. 20, three days before ICE bought the warehouse.

The ordinance requires businesses using more than 100,000 gallons a day to sign a 15-year water agreement, approved by the council, and to supply their own water if the city won’t. When it was adopted, no city water customer used that much, according to a city staff report from the meeting minutes.

The report says the facility would need to prove to the city they have about 490 million gallons.

The warehouse at Sweetwater Avenue and Dysart Road would hold up to 1,500 detainees and about 676 staff.

DHS agreed in a court settlement with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes not to convert the building until its environmental review is final.

The draft, which finds no significant environmental harm, is open for 30 days of public comment.

Related

Democrats question $1.2 billion contract to expand Florence immigration detention facilitiesNeighboring sheriff refutes Santa Cruz County sheriff’s description of ‘peaceful’ protestsSanta Cruz County sheriff defends decision about border wall construction protestersVandals target border wall contractor Fisher Industries’ Tempe officeLochiel protest moves to tree in Mexico after border agents clear U.S. cottonwoodsICE contractor signs deal to reopen Arizona prison as immigration detention center