The borough has negotiated a $50,000 insurance settlement to help pay for repairs after a boat owner pulled up their anchor and hooked and crimped the sewage treatment plant’s deep outfall pipeline in the waters off City Park last September.
The Public Works Department quickly found a temporary solution to keep the treated discharge flowing out of the plant. Bids on a permanent fix were due at City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
The total cost of the temporary work, underwater video to locate the problem and permanent repairs to the pipeline is estimated at around $100,000.
Though the boat owner’s insurance company payment will fall short of completely covering the borough’s expenses, the decision to accept the settlement came down to the cost and risk of proceeding to legal action, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said.
“Progressing to litigation was estimated at $150,000 in legal expenses, so it was not much of a choice,” he said last week.
The borough will draw on its reserves to pay the costs not covered by the insurance check, Villarma said.
Looking ahead, the plan is to take additional steps to avoid another similar accident.
“The borough will be pursuing mitigation measures to ensure that the sewer outfall line is safeguarded from damage in the future,” the manager reported to the borough assembly at its Jan. 28 meeting.
That will include a new shoreside sign to alert boaters to the sewage pipeline, updating marine charts and marking the area with “No Anchor Zone” buoys, he told the assembly.
The outfall pipe extended about 1,700 feet from shore, ending in water about 120 deep, where the treated wastewater was discharged to mix with the strong flow between Wrangell and Woronkofski islands.
The damaged section of the 12-inch-diameter plastic pipe, which sat on the seafloor, measures about 10 feet. The contractor will cut out that section and install a coupling to attach the two ends and restore service. The borough has received state and federal regulators’ permission for the minor alteration in the pipeline’s reach into the sea.
Immediately after the September accident, borough crews cut into the line at the City Park beach to allow the treated wastewater to spill out and get flushed away with the tide. The plan is to repair that cut and return to using the deep outfall just as soon as the contractor repairs the break in the line, Public Works Director Tom Wetor explained last month.
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