Subdivision taps into Wasilla water supply

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The city of Wasilla will soon be supplying clean water to a 50-home subdivision outside city limits that has corrosive copper leaking into its water supply.

The city council voted 4-1 Monday night to approve $90,000 from its utilities savings account for initial planning on the project, which will extend city water 1.2 miles to Garden Terrace subdivision.

Council Member Mark Ewing cast the sole dissenting vote, saying he was concerned that the city was extending water lines outside the city limits when there were still people within the city who needed water access.

"I'm not against the extension, but I think we should take care of people in the city first," Ewing said in a phone interview Thursday. "This was a protest vote."

Public Works Director Archie Giddings said he had no current requests from city residents to extend water lines within the city, but Garden Terrace, while outside city limits, has a history of water problems, including insufficient wells.

"I'm not aware of problems in the city that even come close to the Garden Terrace situation," Giddings said. "There are homes within the city that are not connected to city water, but they have wells that work quite well."

The cost of extending water lines is about $1 million per mile. Funding for the project comes from a federal grant and a state matching grant, each for $1 million. The federal grant is from the Environmental Protection Agency, with the state grant coming from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Giddings estimates the entire project will probably run less than the $2 million in grants and he said at least half of the city's contribution would be paid back through the grants.

City officials were eager to get started on planning the project this winter, but the grants don't kick in until early summer. Without the $90,000 appropriation, the city couldn't begin working on the project for months.

One condition of receiving the water is that residents of Garden Terrace must sign an agreement saying they would not protest being annexed into city limits when that decision is made.

Construction on the project is slated to begin in July.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.