Yuma Approves $406,615 Pumping Fix for La Quinta Basin

When rain fills Yuma's La Quinta retention basin, city crews have had to bring in portable pumps and keep them running for days. On October 7, the City Council approved a $406,615 construction contract with Accurate Excavation of Arizona LLC to replace that routine with a permanent pumping system. The council's award record describes standing water as a longstanding problem.

The basin has one job: collect stormwater and let it soak into the ground. High groundwater has made that unreliable. The city's planned solution is to pump the water to a larger field at Mesquite Elementary School, where it will have more room to soak in and evaporate.

The project concerns the basin at 29th Lane Linear Park, near Barkley Ranch Avenue and La Quinta Drive. The city's procurement notice identifies the work site at 2959 South Broken Arrow Lane. Neighborhood records place the basin between La Quinta and Barkley Estates, although the available documents do not identify every street or property that drains into it.

Why the water stays

A retention basin is a low area designed to collect runoff before it spreads onto streets and neighboring property. But collecting water is only half the job. The basin also needs to empty so it has room for the next storm.

The trouble at La Quinta is underground. Groundwater fills spaces between soil and rock particles, and when the water table sits close to the basin's bottom, stormwater has a harder time soaking into the ground. City staff identify high groundwater as the underlying problem, rather than simply a blocked drain.

The city's proposed 2025–2029 capital plan described Public Works deploying two portable pumps for four days during rain events. The October contract report describes the same recurring burden. A permanent lift station, staff say, should reduce the time crews spend removing water and make the process more reliable.

None of this is new.

La Quinta HOA minutes from March 26, 2018 record homeowners raising concerns about standing water during a visit by City Engineer Jeff Kramer. According to those minutes, the city had no immediate plans to improve the basin.

Six years later, residents were still talking about it. March 2024 HOA minutes record a resident urging people in both La Quinta and Barkley Estates to bring the drainage problem before the City Council.

The records show concerns stretching back at least eight years. They don't establish when the groundwater problem began or provide a complete history of efforts to address it. A November 2024 city road report listed sidewalk repairs at the basin, but those repairs do not establish that its drainage was improved.

A school field becomes part of the solution

The city plans to install a lift station, which uses a pump to move collected water through a pipe when natural drainage isn't enough. The construction solicitation also calls for grading changes, new catch basins and an 18-inch storm drain feeding the station.

The destination is Mesquite Elementary School's soccer field, immediately east of the basin.

That arrangement was approved well before the latest construction contract. On February 19, 2025, the City Council approved an agreement with Crane Elementary School District No. 13 allowing stormwater to be transferred onto district property.

The agreement identifies the city's basin as just under two acres. The school's soccer field covers approximately 6.7 acres, providing a larger area for water to spread, soak into the ground and evaporate.

The city is responsible for designing, building and maintaining the delivery system. The school district provides access and accepts the water, but the city must give at least 24 hours' notice and arrange deliveries at times acceptable to the district.

That makes the district an essential part of operating the system. The school field isn't simply an empty lot where the city can pump water whenever it wants.

There is also an administrative detail the available records leave unresolved. The agreement posted with the council materials carries district signatures but blank city signature lines. Council approval is documented, but that copy does not establish when both parties completed signing it.

The $406,615 contract

Accurate Excavation submitted the lowest of five bids, and the difference between its price and the competition was substantial.

Taylor Engineering submitted the next-lowest bid at $750,846.80. The remaining bids came from Doege Development LLC at $888,839.30, Primary Construction Inc. at $899,297.21 and Gutierrez Canales Engineering at $1,097,749.97.

City staff recommended Accurate Excavation as the lowest bidder meeting the requirements and considered capable of performing the work. The council report does not explain why the competing bids were so much higher.

The approved $406,615 contract is $113,385 below the project's stated $520,000 budget.

That difference leaves room in the budget, but it isn't necessarily money saved. Construction contracts can carry expenses beyond the initial award, and the reviewed report does not provide a complete accounting of separate design, inspection, testing or future operating costs.

The report identifies funding through 2025 capital improvement bond projects under the City Road Tax Fund. The city's 2025 financing presentation identifies Yuma's 0.5% road sales tax as the repayment source for road improvement debt.

The city also has a history of spending staff time and resources on portable pumping, although the reviewed records do not put a dollar amount on that work. They establish persistent standing water but do not quantify property flood damage or document mosquito-related complaints at this particular basin.

When construction could begin

The city anticipates construction starting December 2, 2026, with completion scheduled for May 1, 2027.

The reviewed records do not identify specific road closures, walkway restrictions or disruptions to activities on the school field.

The procurement portal lists engineering plans, a geotechnical report and an addendum, but downloading those documents requires an account. Detailed pump capacity and operating controls could not be confirmed from the available material.

Those details matter because the permanent system will need to move water reliably while working within the school district's access and delivery conditions.

The city is not promising to eliminate the area's groundwater problem. The approved project is intended to provide a more dependable way to remove standing water from the basin, reducing the need for repeated visits by Public Works crews.

After years of complaints, the city has committed $406,615 to that approach. The real test will come after construction, when the next storms show whether the basin can empty more reliably without crews spending days pumping it out.