By Naomi Hatch Construction of a retention basin at the Snowflake Unified School District bus barn to handle storm water runoff was approved by the district governing board last week. “We had a surprise visit from ADEQ (the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) in the summer,” Superintendent Hollis Merrell reminded the board Jan. 14. The state agency was there to inspect the bus barn, located at 682 W. School Bus Lane, which is used to work on and maintain the buses, as well as store fuel. Merrell explained that as a result of the Aug. 13 ADEQ visit, deficiencies were found at the bus barn site relating to storm water runoff, and changes need to be made. Tetra Tech determined a detention basin should be built on the north side of the building. “The construction will include installing gravel at the site, constructing a berm to collect the storm water, constructing a new retention pond to contain some of the storm water, and installing a concrete weir as the outfall point of the site to outlet larger storms from the retention basin,” according to backup material provided to the board. Doug Brimhall of Tetra Tech estimated the cost of the project to be $25,000. Merrell asked the board to approve seeking bids for the project. “I don’t think we’ll have to buy dirt,” said Merrell. “We’ll have enough that will come out of the hole itself and from around the district. We may do the gravel ourselves. A motion to move forward on the retention basin project in order to stay in compliance with ADEQ regulations passed unanimously.