The sound of rushing water is audible near the Petersburg Wastewater Treatment Plant, which faces costly forthcoming projects. Proposition 4 approves taking on debt from low-interest state loans to support water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades, which the Petersburg Wastewater Treatment Plant will need in order to comply with new mandatory disinfection requirements.
Facing unavoidable costs for water and wastewater upgrades, borough authorities stress the need for voters to pass Proposition 4 in the municipal election next week.
Passing Prop 4 will authorize the borough to borrow up to $19.3 million from the state to fund 12 water and wastewater projects slated for the next six years in Petersburg.
The loans would not be borrowed all at once. On a project-by-project basis, each would need to be approved by the assembly before the borough could pursue the funding.
"At any point the assembly can say, yeah, no, we're not going to do that at this time, and defer any of this work," Utility Director Karl Hagerman explained to the Pilot. "Except for ... that big one, the disinfection project."
Some of the projects have already been deferred for years and need to be done. Others are new and mandatory.
"The monster in the room [is] the $10 million disinfection project," Hagerman told the Borough Assembly on Sept. 16.
The Water department projects are estimated to cost $2.5 million, and the wastewater projects are estimated at over $16.8 million.
Most of that cost is from a $10 million project to change how Petersburg's wastewater is treated before it is discharged into Frederick Sound.
Although Hagerman would prefer to continue wastewater operations as they have been, this change is mandatory; the borough is going to be required to disinfect the wastewater it releases into Frederick Sound, and must have the infrastructure to meet the new standards in as soon as five years.
Petersburg's wastewater is currently screened and separated, solids and oils are removed to clarify the water, but the treatment plant does not use a chemical or biological process to eliminate bacteria from the wastewater before being discharged into a mixing zone in Frederick Sound, where it is diluted with ocean water.
Testing the bacteria levels inside the mixing zone consistently demonstrates that Petersburg's treated discharge has been safely within previously permitted limits.
However, strict new EPA permit requirements establish a far lower bacteria threshold and a dramatically smaller mixing zone. Without adding a bacterial disinfection treatment stage, it will not be possible for Petersburg's wastewater discharge to meet clean water requirements.
While there are many ways to do the disinfection process, Hagerman said that still, "ultimately, any way you slice it, it's about a ten million dollar project."
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) defines the water quality for marine waters in the state, and the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) factors in that state criteria when issuing permits.
"We have a situation where our discharge permit renewal is going to force us into doing things and spending money that we really don't want to - but it is something that we'll have to do to keep the regulators happy," Hagerman said.
He explained the only available "opportunity" to meet the cost of these demands are through loans.
The debt would come from low-interest 1.5% loans from the state ADEC for water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
Hagerman told the assembly the department is continuing to seek different funding sources, and "hopefully" find grants to help bear the burden, though there are no grants available at this time.
Water department projects are estimated to cost $2.5 million. To cover those costs, consultants suggest an annual 3% rate increase through 2034 would prevent the water department from falling into a deficit.
For wastewater, however, the $16.8 million price tag is "not pretty..."
"It's a big problem, but we're going to be working on it and doing the best we can to try and ease that to our ratepayers," Hagerman said.
The water and wastewater projects facing the borough are not going to become less expensive to complete. And if deferred any further, some of the projects pose a risk of creating very costly emergencies in town.
Passing Prop 4 would be the necessary first step before any of the water and wastewater improvements can get underway.
Even if Prop 4 is not passed, Petersburg will still have to find a way to comply with the new mandated disinfection requirement.
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