Wrangell receives $2.5 million federal grant for water treatment plant

The federal appropriations bill signed into law earlier this month includes a $2.5 million grant for Wrangell's new water treatment plant, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in June 2025.

The latest federal grant, added to the budget bill by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, will reduce the amount of borrowed money the borough will need to repay, Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma confirmed Friday, March 15.

President Joe Biden signed the appropriations bill on March 9, after the measure won approval by wide margins in the House and Senate.

With the latest federal money, Wrangell has amassed close to $16 million in state and federal grants for the $23 million project, leaving about $6.5 million in loans it will need to repay.

Due to its success in lining up federal and state money for the project, the borough's water fund contribution is at just $119,000 - the smallest portion of the total funding. The borough has been working more than seven years to put together financing for the project.

The long-term loans will be repaid from water service revenues.

As the ranking Republican on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Murkowski was able to add multiple Alaska projects to the budget bill, including $4.1 million for improvements at Petersburg's Scow Bay Harbor, $1.5 million for failing sewer mains in Ketchikan, $2 million for water and sewer upgrades in Haines, and $3 million to engineer and redesign the water system in Craig.

Concrete foundation work on Wrangell's new water plant started in February. The plant will have the capacity to produce up to three times as much clean water per day as the existing treatment plant.

The updated plant will include a new flotation system that uses air bubbles to remove impurities from the water fed into the plant from the community's two reservoirs.

A $5 million state grant to strengthen the earthen dams at Wrangell's water reservoirs is pending legislative action.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested the funding in the budget he submitted to lawmakers at the start of the legislative session in January, but lawmakers are working on the state operating budget first and will get to the public works budget next.

The borough would use the $5 million to "reinforce both these dams with buttresses," likely concrete, Villarma said when the governor announced the budget request.

A total rebuild of the dams would cost tens of millions of dollars.