Water & wastewater: Bethel: managing waste requires multi-million dollar investment.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Water and wastewater are some of the most expensive utilities to provide and also 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.

Since last year, Alaska Business Monthly readers have been learning about utilities across Alaska and finding out how each community is preparing for the future. This is another installment in the ongoing series.

The city of Bethel has one of the more complex water and sewer delivery systems in the state, and it's also a community in need of major investment in the near future to keep it up to date. According to the US Census, Bethel's estimated population in 2013 was 6,363 people and housing units numbered 2,364 in 2010.

City leaders are asking the state for help with more than $30 million in needed infrastructure projects. One is a nearly $20 million update to the city sewage lagoon; the second is a $10.5 million, 0.7-mile water line extension that will serve institutional and commercial users along the Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway. The extension would make it possible for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation hospital, the Department of Corrections Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Facility (which can house 207 male and female adult inmates), and the Department of Health and Human Services Bethel Youth Facility (which has an eight person detention unit and eleven person treatment unit), among others, to be on piped city water.

The city recently brought its water and sewer utility rates more in line with actual costs by raising rates significantly. The new rates, which city council members debated for months, go into effect in January. The heavy debate stems from the fact that Bethel already has some of the highest water and sewer utility rates in the state; some residents pay upwards of $300 a month for the services.

"The challenge we're trying to reach is to get our water system to pay for itself, but to also find a fee structure that works," says Bethel Vice Mayor Lief Albertson. "Trying to do that in a way that was fair ... the word 'fair' kept coming up and, depending on where you live in town, fair means something different."

Different Services, Different Rates

Bethel operates two water treatment plants, serving about 1,500 customers, according to city staff. Of those, 1,125 customers receive hauled water and sewer services and 474 are on piped water and sewer.

The newest water treatment plant is the City Subdivision plant, located on Akiak Drive and built in 2000. Designed to produce a half-million gallons per day, the plant averages much less: about 130,000 gallons per day. It relies on a groundwater well located inside...