A structural failure early this year during the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant has left the Camp Verde Sanitary District with the bill — for now.

The district has to have someone fix the walls of the new aeration basin that cracked and bowed during a testing phase.

The district hired an independent engineer which the district thinks puts the blame for the failure squarely on the shoulders of the project engineers, Phoenix-based Coe and Van Loo.

Coe and Van Loo is reviewing the independent engineers report and hasn’t yet accepted any official responsibility for the problem.

While district board is confident that someone eventually will be held financially liable, construction of the project can’t proceed much farther without the needed thousands of dollars in repairs.

If the project were to be put on hold until the board had a check in its hands, it would likely cost the district more money for having to demobilize construction workers while waiting for repairs and then pay to bring them back, board member Al Dupuy said.

“I’m not comfortable fronting the money for repairs,” Dupuy said. “We need to be more aggressive in pursuing those at fault.”

Construction on another part of the sewer project, the expansion of sewer lines in Camp Verde, is expected to resume shortly, board member Gregg Freeman said