Three big issues weighed heavily upon the Wrangell Assembly’s agenda Tuesday; impending crises with the city’s water supply, its hospital’s financial stability, and the state’s site selection for a monofill to house treated lead-contaminated soil extracted from the former Byford junkyard.
• Water crisis
The city entered its highest watch level for water conservation Tuesday, after learning that its two reservoirs only have about 30 or so days’ worth of raw reserves.
(see adjoining story) Reservoir levels have reached a low point after an unusually cold, dry winter, with little meteorological sign of improving in the coming month.
“That leaves us with a very serious concern about our ability to maintain water levels,” Wrangell manager Lisa Von Bargen commented.
In its official conservation notices the city has ascribed much of the loss to residents leaving taps on during the winter. However, Von Bargen gave some additional suggestions city staff will be looking into, such as possible leaks within the water main system itself. Ductile iron pipeline that makes up much of the network has historically shown a tendency to burst prematurely.
“We believe there are losses within the water system, but we don’t know where it’s coming from,” said Von Bargen.
“We will be bringing in somebody to do leak protection immediately,” in an effort to locate and fix potential breakages.
Inefficiencies at the water treatment plant itself are also problematic. Public Works
director Amber Al-Haddad reported around 150,000 gallons of water get lost each time its four filters need to get unclogged, which occurs with some frequency.
“We’re working on an interim fix right now,” Von Bargen said. Currently Public Works is trying to
expedite a review by the Department of Environmental Conservation changes to the plant redirecting water to its
clearwell, allowing the plant to retain that water during maintenance rather than losing it.
At the Assembly’s
request, Al-Haddad also sought and received direction on attempting a speedier procurement schedule for replacing the plant’s roughing filters.
A first stage of filtration at the plant, design and usage problems have rendered it largely ineffective at treatment. Applying a more effective
design has thus become a high priority for work at the plant. If normal procurement is waived, Al-Haddad expected a
contractor could have the project wrapped up in time for the busy summer processing season.
Bumped from the agenda was a proposal to approve pursuit of a $9.1 million new water plant, one which uses dissolved air flotation to filter sediment from its water during treatment. For the past three years the city
has been working with engineers to explore alternatives to its aging slow sand filtration plant. After undertaking a
pilot study in 2016, the DAF plant model was found to be well suited to treating Wrangell’s sedimented water supply.
However, the cost involved and the useful life of the proposed plant make the topic’s pursuit a complex problem to consider, and additional
information was still being arranged by staff. Given Tuesday’s brimming schedule, a separate special meeting
dedicated solely to addressing the city’s water woes has been set for this evening at 7 p.m.
“We felt it warranted its own meeting,” Von Bargen explained.
• Discussion with DEC and WCA on Byford monofill
The Assembly had been asked by DEC to clarify its position on a proposed monofill amid continuing delays to the project.
Around 18,500 cubic yards of treated but contaminated soil awaits its final resting place after the Alaska department had removed it from the former Byford junkyard, a property the city had acquired through foreclosure in 2009. Engineers identified a rock pit on state land as a suitable place to inter the treated material, but the pit’s proximity to the Pats Creek system has caused some concern among residents.
Wrangell Cooperative Association has opposed its placement there due to the creek system’s importance to subsistence use. Work set to begin last summer had been put on hold by DEC until April 1 of this year, in an attempt to address those concerns. Theoretically, it would allow time to either identify an alternate site or to come up with the additional funding that would be needed to ship the material off-island.
Commissioner of the DEC Larry Hartig came down for a site visit last week, meeting with WCA officials while here. He also
reportedly met with Gov. Bill Walker on Tuesday to discuss the Wrangell project.a
Speaking with DEC project manager Sally Schlichting on the phone at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, Von Bargen wanted to know whether any news from that meeting was available. Schlichting responded that it was not available at this time.
Assembly members and Von Bargen seemed in agreement that a report regarding the outcome of that meeting would be helpful, as well as copies of a report recently prepared for WCA raising design questions of the monofill site, and DEC’s response expected in two or three weeks.
Esther Ashton, WCA tribal administrator, explained her staff
had secured the assistance of Kendra Zamzow, a biochemist with the Center for Science in Public Participation. She reported that Zamzow had reviewed details for the project and had some questions for the DEC to answer.
These include questions about fractures in the pit’s bedrock
and its high water table. Lead level thresholds in tests for leaching used on the treated soil were also questioned, as the levels were
calibrated to human consumption rather than aquatic lifeforms.
The potential for the leaching of phosphates used in the treatment compound itself was also identified as a potential concern, citing studies that found the element could promote algal blooms and reduce oxygen levels in nearby streams.
“The part of the project that the Tribe has been worried
about and continues to have issues with is the location of the monofill,” Ashton explained. WCA’s relationship to the area has been custodial, with one of its previous projects culvert improvement along Pats Creek system roads to improve subsistence access there.
“We are in the process of responding to those
recommendations,” Schlichting told Ashton and the
Assembly.
Assembly members ultimately decided it would be better to
collect more information before weighing in on the project, though there were some concerns about the costs of continued delay.
• Future intentions with SEARHC
Assembly members also turned their attention to the state of the Wrangell Medical Center’s financial stability. CEO Robert Rang reported that while the hospital was in better stead than it has been in the recent past, its financial reserves remain in a fragile state. Excluding $250,000 borrowed from a city reserve fund and some dedicated capital funding from the WMC Foundation, the hospital has less than half a million dollars in hand, or about enough to pay its bills for 15 or 16 days.
A catastrophe would not necessarily be far off, such as problems stemming from the Alaska Legislature’s own financial problems. A stopgap bill to ensure continued Medicaid payments until a budget gets passed moved through the House just Tuesday, heading to the Senate. If it stops there or fails to pass the state could halt those payments by the month’s end. Since Medicaid payments account for a significant proportion of WMC’s total revenue, such an event could spell disaster for the hospital.
A municipal asset, the city would be liable for any insolvency on the part of the hospital. Given its concerns and the need for a new hospital facility, Wrangell has started exploring other management arrangements for the future. One option would be an alignment of interests in some fashion with Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium, which has increased its presence in the island’s healthcare sector with its acquisition of Alaska Island Community Services last year.
A steering committee to answer the question of the hospital’s future was assembled last week. Meanwhile, as their last act for Tuesday’s meeting, Assembly members broke into a closed executive session to discuss a proposed letter of intent outlining such an arrangement. Included in the discussion were consultancy Dorsey & Witney LLP, the city’s legal counsel and Von Bargen. Final action on the letter was not available by evening press time.
Reader Comments(0)