Final Assessment of Talkeetna Sewer and Water System Submitted

The final assessment of Talkeetna’s sewer and water system has been completed.  Included is analysis of the functionality of the system, suggested improvements, and plans to make the system fiscally solvent.

In total, the assessment of the sewer and water system in Talkeetna is hundreds of pages.  It was funded through a $100,000 grant from the state legislature at the request of local residents, including the Talkeetna Sewer and Water Advisory Board.  CRW Engineering did the study, and looked at a number of areas.

Not much changed in the assessment of the system itself since the draft report was released in July.  One interesting note has to do with the water treatment plant.  The plant was not required until allowable levels of arsenic were dropped from 50 parts-per-million to 10 parts-per million.  The increased cost of operating the plant is a major cost driver.  The report says that arsenic levels are still too high to meet regulations, but that the region as a whole has seen shifts in levels of arsenic, with some of them dropping.  If the base level of arsenic were to fall below 10 parts-per-million and stay there, it could be feasible to shut down the treatment plant.

Whether or not that happens in the future, the system is currently deep in the red.  According to the study, the current annual deficit is likely to be over $100,000.  If rates were to remain constant, that figure would grow due to inflation and other factors.  As a result, the report suggests revenue increases of 13% per year for water and 6% for sewer for each of the next five years. The report notes that this would allow the system to break even on operations, but that more money would be needed to establish a reserve fund and for repair and replacement costs.

For sewer rates, that simply means an increase of the flat fee already charged to all users, since wastewater is hard to measure per customer.  Water used, however, can be measured, and that means there are multiple options for how to proceed. The assessment presents four potential rate structures.  All of them involve paying for water usage based on metering.  Currently, only commercial customers that use more than 8,000 gallons of water in a given month are charged for usage.  The key difference between the structures is how much users pay per thousand gallons of water.  One method proposes a winter versus a summer water rate, and another sets up a tier system, where water becomes more expensive per gallon for high-volume users.  In all but one model, commercial users pay a higher per-gallon cost than residential users.

Ultimately, the choice of rate structure is up to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.   While there isn’t currently a proposal before the assembly to address Talkeetna’s sewer and water rates, it’s likely to come soon.

A link to our story about the draft report, which includes some details of the physical assessment, can be found here.