Palmer council deals with tainted run-off

August 28, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The Palmer City Council is grappling for a solution to springtime flooding of contaminated water from Scott Road to Anna Street, and it hopes to be able to construct something this fall to deter the problem next spring.

Although many Valley areas experience some flooding during breakup time, the longstanding problem in northwest Palmer is exacerbated by the fact that the water becomes tainted after crossing horse pastures - creating a public health issue, according to Rick Koch, Palmer's director of Public Works.

In the past, water samples have shown the presence of E. coli, City Manager Tom Healy said during Tuesday's regularly scheduled city council meeting.

E. coli is a bacteria typically present in the intestines of animals, according to Webster's New World College Dictionary. "Its presence in water in certain quantities indicates fecal pollution that can cause diarrhea," according to Webster's.

The council discussed some possible solutions for getting rid of surface water run-off in Valley Trails subdivision, but was unable to take any action without word from an Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities hydrologist.

"There aren't any easy solutions here," Healy said, referring to finding the most viable, least expensive way to connect underground culverts that would divert the water.

Healy said the Department of Environmental Conser-vation visited the site about three years ago, but nothing was done.

Mayor John Combs asked if the Environmental Protection Agency could be contacted to assist with the problem.

Healy explained that it's a state issue because the DOT owns the culvert that runs under Scott Road.

Currently, the storm drains don't connect to either city or state storm drains. Instead, the water runs south under Arctic Avenue and into a ditch that travels along the east boundary of the Palmer High School property, before it settles onto an undeveloped parcel, Koch said.

Usually around March, the water runs down across Anna Street and fills both ditches and overflows onto the road. Ice chunks cause little lakes, and the city has to send out maintenance crews to remove the ice and allow the water to flow. The typical March weather cycle of freezing and melting plays havoc with making any water-diversion solution stick.

Koch said in the past two years the problem has lessened. In the past, the water was actually discolored and smelly, but the property-owner with the horse pasture has been making an effort to keep the area cleaned up. A cleaner wintertime pasture may have played a part in reducing the problem, Koch said.

Even with cleaner water, the city still would like to allow the undeveloped lot near the high school to be free of springtime run-off.

One option is to run a buried culvert toward Arctic Road and hook up with the city's storm-drain systems there, Healy said.

Another option is to extend the culvert from Scott Road so the water makes it journey to the Glenn Highway, where it could clean itself before getting to the Arctic Avenue storm-drain systems, Koch said.

"The point is to get it out of our storm drain system," Healy said during Tuesday's meeting.

"I don't want water that has a measurable amount of E. coliform in the storm-drain systems," Koch said Friday.

Council member Tony Pippel recalled when, as a child, springtime water would pool up on his parents' property as it ran off the land belonging to city attorney John Snodgrass' parents. Pippel said it was great fun to stomp and splash in the oversized puddles. He was concerned that children living between Scott Road and Anna Street might think the same.

Koch said that not only do kids play in the water, but vehicles drive through it and then park in heated garages adjacent to homes. The issue will be revisited during the council's regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 13.

"(The council) will have to weigh whose problem it is. Is it DOT? Is it the owner of the horse pastures? It's really probably an EPA issue," Koch said. "What complicates the issue is that the run-off comes from outside the city. Surface water run-off issues are never easy."

"This problem highlights the need for a larger drainage plan," Healy said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at

352-2252, or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.