Borough approves $5 million loan to start septage and leachate facility at landfill

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the loan offer from the Alaska State Department of Environmental Conservation Clean Water Fund in the amount of $5 million to begin construction and development of a septage disposal unit next to the borough landfill on 49^th State Street.

According to Tom Healy, a member of the Borough Wastewater and Septage Advisory Board, which met for its regular bi-monthly meeting on Thursday to discuss the developments, the loan obtained by the borough will help ease the burden of sending almost all septage to Anchorage.

“With Anchorage, the writing is on the wall that they’re not going to allow Valley haulers to haul in there forever,” he said. “There has to be a solution out here and this is what we’re beginning to work on.”

The $5 million is just the first step in a project that could wind up north of $20 million when it’s all said and done.

And as advisory board member Mike Campfield pointed out, the initial $5 million investment will go a long ways in leachate, which is essentially the leakage that comes out from the waste at the landfill. Campfield, who assists the landfill with its capital projects, said that currently, the borough pays $300,000 or more per year to the Anchorage facility for removal and transport of leachate alone.

“We’re reached the tipping point,” Campfield said. “It’s now cheaper for us to build a leachate facility and pay off a loan than just send off $300,000.”