Thanks for your article on the actions being taken to develop a regional wastewater treatment plant.  It’s great to see the borough and cities of Palmer and Wasilla talking about a joint effort, and it’s high time we develop a place in the borough where the septic pumpers can take septage.  I find it hard to fish for halibut knowing that a large portion of what’s pumped out of Anchorage and Mat-Su septic tanks is dumped into Cook Inlet. We need to stop calling this material “waste” and realize it’s just another resource we can recycle within our communities.

There was a reference in the article to “affordability of discharge outfalls where processed waste would be pumped.” Basically, what this means is: “Where does the treated water water go?”

This issue can be addressed easily if we require tertiary treatment, which means that the discharge meets drinking water standards. While I’m not suggesting it will be used for drinking water, when the discharge water meets tertiary standards it eliminates these outfall issues — it can be disposed of anywhere. Further, there are established biological treatment technologies that can provide both tertiary treatment and methane recovery to help reduce facility energy costs. When I see septic trucks on the road to Anchorage, I think of more resources leaving the borough. As the cost of energy rises, the cost of pumping our septic tanks will have to increase. If for some reason (beluga whales?) Anchorage loses its permit to dispose of septage in Cook Inlet, we will soon find ourselves in a very tight spot. We need to develop this facility with the next 100 years in mind, which means going to tertiary treatment right now. Tertiary treatment is not necessarily more expensive than secondary treatment, but even if it is more expensive up front it will save us money in the long run, and protect our salmon resources and wide variety of businesses supported by healthy salmon resources.  

 

Mark Masteller, executive director

Alaska Center for

Appropriate Technology

Wasilla