Urban water & wastewater systems anchorage: part one of a series.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

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Water and wastewater are some of the most expensive utilities to provide and the most vital to keeping a community healthy.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says municipal water and wastewater treatment systems "are among the most energy-intensive facilities owned and operated by local governments, accounting for about 35 percent of energy used by municipalities."

In Alaska, costs can be even higher than those national averages, especially in rural and remote communities where groundwater is brackish or soils unsuitable for building wastewater treatment facilities.

But what's happening with water and wastewater in Alaska's urban areas? Are water utilities much different in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Mat-Su than Outside? What are the issues facing these utility providers? Over the course of the next several months, Alaska Business Monthly readers can learn about utilities in Alaska's major population centers and find out how each community is preparing for the future.

Anchorage has some of the best-tasting drinking water in the nation. Few major cities supply its residents with lightly treated glacier water straight from the tap.

But tapping into glacier water for municipal consumers doesn't just make for fresh-tasting water; it also means an inexpensive method of supplying that water.

On the other end of the treatment spectrum, the state's largest municipality operates the state's largest municipal wastewater treatment facility, the John M. Asplund Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes roughly 28 million gallons of wastewater every day. And here's a fact that most people who flush a toilet or wash a dish in Anchorage might not know--most of that wastewater is screened, lightly treated, and discharged directly into Cook Inlet.

The municipality has a modified 301 9h0 permit from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, that allows them to do so; a waiver some say might disappear. Critics say it's irresponsible for Anchorage to put sewage into the same body of water that is home to the salmon that stock so many Alaskans' freezers.

From Glacier to Faucets

First, a little more about the water source. Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility treatment division director Richard Steckel says the Municipality of Anchorage--which spans from Eklutna to Girdwood--uses around 25 million gallons of water each day, on average. The number varies by season.

Most of that water--90 percent, Steckel says--is supplied by Eklutna Lake, derived from Eklutna glaciermelt and snowmelt or rain from the surrounding Chugach mountain peaks. The city also has a water treatment plant at Ship Creek near Muldoon and the Glenn Highway that supplies about 2 percent of the...