Talkeetna Sewer and Water gets more funding

The Talkeetna Sewer and Water system is the recipient of another grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  This latest grant comes through the US Department of Agriculture.

The grant is about $762,000, part of which is a $48,000 loan.  The grant will help install the water treatment system this summer.  Earlier this year, stimulus money was received to install a system to put the sewer and water utility back into compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The previous stimulus grants added up to over $1 million.  Those grants came with low cost loans totaling $105,000.

The Borough’s project manager for Talkeetna, Jeff Walden, says that this latest grant will be used to pay back the previous loans as well as replace a disintegrating discharge pipe in the system.  He says a meter needs to be placed at the wellhouse and some valves need replacing as well.   The project includes placing a unit at the wellhouse that will essentially remove the arsenic currently in the system.  The Alaska railroad has requested the filtering unit not be placed on their property so the Borough is now looking at the parking lot by the wellhouse to see exactly where it will be placed.

The project is scheduled to begin at the end of June.  Walden predicts it will be short term project that should be complete by the end of summer.