About a week ago, according to Director of Public Works and Capital Facilities Amber Al-Haddad, water seepage was found in the upper reservoir dam at Wrangell’s water treatment facility. She came before the Wrangell Borough Assembly Tuesday evening to bring them up to speed on the situation.
The seepage was located in the east end of the dam, and while Al-Haddad said the dam always maintained a wet consistency, the amount of water was higher than usual in this area. Al-Haddad said that once it was discovered, a series of weirs were built at the seepage locations to track the leaks. She said that the seepage has been consistent over the past few days, but was not increasing in speed or size. She also informed the borough that her department has been reaching out to the Dam Safety Program in Juneau, as well as the engineering firm Shannon & Wilson, for guidance and assistance on what to do about the seepage.
Al-Haddad explained that there were two reservoirs at the water treatment plant, an upper one and a lower one. Water currently flows from the upper reservoir into the lower one before being sent through the facility, and thereby providing Wrangell with water. She said that her department has a project that’s been in the planning stage to bypass the lower reservoir by sending water to the facility straight from the upper reservoir.
She said the connection could help with dam repairs.
However, there are two pipes near the seepage area where the connection could potentially be made. Another problem that Al-Haddad
made the assembly aware of was that these two pipes were broken, and would have to be repaired before any connection that used them could be made.
As to the seepage, Al-Haddad made it clear that she was keeping a sharp eye on the situation, and the seepage was being monitored daily.
On other business, the borough assembly held two public hearings during their meeting. Both hearings were for proposed ordinances regarding the proposed transaction between Wrangell and SEARHC of the Wrangell Medical Center. As there were no members of the public in attendance for these hearings, they were closed quickly and the ordinances were adopted. The assembly also discussed a
proposal to authorize the surplus of borough property via scrap metal disposal.
This proposal was rejected after some discussion, as some members of the board wanted to seek bids on
some items of property from the public before scrapping them.
Other items approved in the meeting include:
An amendment to the FY 2019 budget by accepting a harbor facility matching grant from the Alaska
Department of Transportation of $5 million for renovations to Shoemaker Bay Harbor;
Cooperative agreements between Wrangell and the U.S. Department of Transportation for the North Country Trailhead Access Road Repair Project, as well as Mt. Dewey Trail Extension Project;
The job description for the facility maintenance specialist lead position and the amendment of the union wage and grade table;
The purchase of a new police vehicle in the amount of $39,499; andCancellation of the regular assembly meeting on Sept. 11.
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