Talkeetna scheduled for sewer upgrade

TALKEETNA -- Talkeetna residents may get a major utility upgrade during summer of 2002, according to Jim Swing, Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director. All that's lacking is the money to do the work.

The community's sewer system is feeling the combined effects of age and community growth, currently serving an approximately 50-percent greater population than it did when originally constructed in the late 1980s.

According to a borough press release, the system has now deteriorated to the point that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued a notice of violation to the utility late last year. In addition, operational expenses have crept upward, due in part to winter freezing, summer infiltration of ground water into the system and the deterioration of the natural disposal field.

The borough and DEC are reportedly working together under a bilateral waiver agreement to bring the utility back into compliant and cost-effective operation.

Swing said Arctic Slope Consultant Group has contracted with the borough to perform preliminary engineering design work and provide accurate estimates of both the work most urgently needed to correct the deficiency and a general estimate of additional needed upgrades.

The borough expects the ASCG effort to be completed prior to a preliminary design deadline of April 1, imposed by DEC.

Swing said DEC cited the borough because the system does not meet their criteria for separating discharged waste water from the ground water level.

"The system is discharging into a percolation cell which is too close to the water table," Swing explained Thursday.

Swing said there is no public health risk associated with the sewer system and the deficiencies identified by DEC.

"We perform regular tests of the system to assure that it remains safe to operate," he said.

DEC grant money in the amount of $51,000, supplemented by $51,000 provided by the Talkeetna Water and Sewer Service Area, is funding the current preliminary work. However, Swing said money to correct the sewer system deficiency, expected to be in excess of a million dollars, is a bigger problem.

The Talkeetna Water and Sewer Service Area simply does not have the money to fund the effort, Swing said, although the borough is pursuing other avenues.

"We have applications pending everywhere we can think of for grant money," Swing said. "So far we do not have it."