Palmer eyes wastewater options

PALMER — Growth and new wastewater regulations are prompting the city to move forward with plans to build a new wastewater treatment facility or improve its current one.

Palmer City Council gathered for a special meeting this past week to discuss the city’s options. City Manager Bill Allen said with projections showing a substantial growth in population for the area, Palmer’s current wastewater treatment plant soon won’t be adequate.

According to the Palmer Wastewater Treatment Plant Preliminary Engineering Report, produced by Hattenburg Dilley & Linnell and G.V. Jones and Associates Inc., population within the wastewater service area is expected to rise from about 11,000 in 2007 to 33,000 by 2037.

An upgraded plant is also needed to address tighter regulations set down by the Environmental Protection Agency, the report says. The regulations came with the city’s latest permit issued Jan. 1, 2007, and require reductions of contaminants discharged into the Matanuska River. For Palmer, the main areas of concern are discharge amounts of ammonia, fecal coliform and total suspended solids (TSS).

In the past, the city could discharge a monthly average of effluent with 34 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of ammonia from September to June. The new permit only allows 8.7 mg/L of ammonia discharge. The restrictions are tightened even more during spawning season, the report says. In July and August, monthly average of ammonia levels were reduced from 34 mg/L to 1.7 mg/L. The acceptable monthly average release of fecal coliform has been reduced by 80 mg/L for July and August. Acceptable daily maximum TSS levels have been reduced by 15 mg/L.

To address those issues, Hattenburg Dilley & Linnell, an engineering consulting firm, outlines seven possible options for a new and improved treatment plant in Palmer. Scott Hattenburg, an engineer, said the consulting firm has ranked the options and recommends an integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) system as the best option for Palmer.

“Basically, what we found out was the IFAS … scored slightly higher and was really the preferred alternative by staff to operate and maintain,” Hattenburg said.

Allen said the IFAS system is a back-up plan to creating a regional facility. Overall, the city prefers joining forces with Wasilla and the Mat-Su Borough to create a regional wastewater treatment plant, Hattenburg said. Not only will this provide an up-to-date facility for all three local districts, but it will also help offset costs associated with the project.

“The capital costs for the treatment plant could cost as much as $50 million,” Allen said. “We need to obviously combine our resources with the other communities that are in need of such a plant here in the Valley.”

Although Allen stresses the importance of Palmer moving forward with a wastewater treatment plan, some council members say they are not ready to make a final decision.

Councilman Brad Hanson expressed concerns about the limited amount of time he and other members have had to review the alternatives spelled out in the engineering report.

“I think it’s somewhat, in my opinion, premature to go ahead and select an alternative [now],” Hanson said.

Hanson said he is in favor of discussing regional options with the Borough and Wasilla, but choosing a preferred alternative isn’t the best move now. With the report reaching the hands of council a few days before meeting last week, he suggested postponing the decision for two weeks.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.