Palmer’s council okays loan applications to upgrade city water, waste treatment systems

Palmer’s council gave its approval at its Tuesday, Feb. 25 meeting for city officials to apply for $2 million in three loans from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC, to do needed upgrades to the municipal sewer and water treatment facilities.

Resolution 25-007 authorizes the city manager to apply for a loan up to $500,000 from DEC’s Alaska Drinking Water Fund to do a new well and well house project.

City public works officials described the project and its need in documents given the council.

“The City of Palmer currently has three functional wells which supply all the drinking water used by City of Palmer customers. These wells were constructed in 1958, 1987, and 2002. As the demand for city water continues, there is an urgent need to upgrade the current facilities. The city's current wells cannot meet the demands created by recent emergency situations. As a result, the city's reservoirs operated at dangerously low levels for brief periods during a couple recent emergencies,” the document said.

The project will include hiring a design firm to oversee the drilling of test wells close to the city's current distribution system. If a test well or wells prove sufficient to provide for the City's needs a design will be developed for a well house to house a new pump and well. The well house design would also include a disinfection system, well controls and connection to the city's distribution system.

A second DEC loan being applied for, in Resolution 25-008 , will improve the city’s main water reservoir. The public works department described it:

“The City of Palmer's main water reservoir, Reservoir 1, is a 1960's era underground storage reservoir. The reservoir, comprised of two, nearly identical concrete vaults, can store about 250,000 gallons of finished water. The design of the reservoir does not allow for easy access and there are no records of cleanings or inspections except for the most recent inspection which occurred in 2023.”

“The storage capacity is no longer sufficient for the City as the operating level of the reservoir is only about 50,000 gallons and causes the main wells to cycle on and off to maintain the level in the reservoir. The switchboard and motor controllers at the reservoir are obsolete and repair parts are difficult to find. The booster pumps, which send water from reservoir one to reservoir two and the rest of the distribution system cannot be isolated as most of the valving at the reservoir has failed. During a recent repair, operators worked in spraying water as the isolation valves did not shut off the water. Access to the facility is through a non-maintained driveway and operators are often unable to access the site without snowshoeing over half a mile during wind events.”

The project will see design of a new, larger reservoir that allows easier access for regular inspections and cleanings. The new reservoir will have a larger operating range to reduce the amount of short cycling by the wells. The booster pumps, which send water from reservoir one to reservoir two and the rest of the distribution system will be replaced with more efficient pumps. The electrical system, including switchboards and motor controllers for the pumps and well one, will be modernized to increase efficiency and prevent catastrophic breakdowns.”

“All of the valving will be renewed to allow critical parts and systems to be isolated. Access will be shifted from the unmaintained driveway to Bogard Rd., a well-maintained major road that will allow operators to access the reservoir even during severe weather events. The old reservoir would be fully inspected to determine the viability of rehabilitation for future use.”

A third loan, for $500,000, was authorized in Resolution 25-009. It involves an upgrade to the Headworks at the sewage treatment system. Palmer’s Public Works Department described it this way.

“The headworks building and sewage treatment systems are beyond useful service life and undersized for the current volume of sewage entering the Wastewater Treatment Plant. This building has been neglected for years. Some of the current challenges are the screw pumps that bring wastewater up to the start of the treatment process are no longer supported by the manufacturer and require significant repair overhaul. The bar screens, which remove rags and other solids from the waste stream, must be manually cleaned several times a day to keep the system flowing smoothly.”

“The augers, which remove smaller solids and process them for disposal, are also well beyond their useful life. Currently only one of the augers can handle plant flows independently making maintenance scheduling and repair response difficult, often resulting in sending solids further into the treatment process where they cause significant issues. The lighting in the facility is inaccessible without extensive scaffolding and as a result is mostly inoperable.

The ventilation system is also inaccessible and no longer functions, allowing flammable and corrosive gases to build up inside the building. The water used for treatment in the headworks relies on the sole source of potable water at the treatment plant causing the well pump to short cycle and providing numerous opportunities for a cross connection between potable water and raw, untreated sewage. There is also a need for automatically cleaned screens at the end of the treatment process, after clarification, as a large number of solids currently pass through the system and decrease the efficacy of the disinfection process. This project will help fund the design and engineering required to correct the numerous issues and provide a resilient system that allows for safer and more economical operation.

The project involved replacing the screw pumps either with new, fully supported screw pumps or a different, reliable method to bring wastewater up to the start of the treatment process. The bar screens will be upgraded to automatically cleaned bar screens, reducing the amount of effort required to keep the plant flowing smoothly. An additional set of screens will be designed and installed after the clarifiers to capture any remaining solids that have passed through the system. The augers will be replaced with new augers sized to handle maximum plant flows independently.

“The lighting in the building will be relocated to allow for easy access. The ventilation system will be repaired and relocated to allow for easier maintenance and repairs. The potable water that is utilized in the treatment process will be removed and reclaimed water will be brought to the headworks to eliminate the possibility of cross connections between the well and wastewater.”