Tonight, Petersburg’s Borough Assembly will consider a resolution that would let the borough apply for a state loan to fund the replacement of a pump station. Pump station three is located near the downtown area and uses decades-old equipment. It is one of the largest stations in Petersburg’s wastewater system.
Passing the resolution would give Borough Manager Steve Geisbrecht official permission to pursue a loan from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC).
Petersburg voters approved a local ballot measure in October that lets the borough apply for up to $19.3 million in ADEC loans for water and wastewater projects.
The loan of up to $2 million would be repaid over 20 years and come from ADEC’s Alaska Clean Water Fund. The fund’s project priority list currently includes Petersburg’s pump station three replacement project.
The project involves replacing the station’s original underground dry well pumps with high-efficiency submersible pumps, along with a new wet well and valve vault.
Catastrophic failures at pump station three could cause major service issues and backflow in downtown Petersburg; in an emergency like that, raw sewage could flow directly into the Wrangell Narrows.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will meet Dec. 16 in the assembly chambers at 6 p.m. Assembly members will decide at their meeting whether or not to approve the resolution to pursue the loan.
