Mat Su Pursues Waste Solution

The city of Anchorage and the Matanuska Susitna Borough are wrestling over the problem of disposal of the Boroughs septic waste. ABorough waste treatment facilitycould beyears away, while Anchorages wastewater utility has had its fill of the Boroughs sludge. Back in the 1980s, the Borough did construct a waste treatment facility, in Houston, but the state shut it down due to groundwater impacts. Since then, pump trucks have hauled Valley septic sludge to an Anchorage facility, and thats not a solution, according to Helen Munoz.

Munoz is a dimunitive woman with an energy level that belies her 84 years. Shes at a local Palmer coffee shop, discussing one of the passions of her life : septic sludge and how to deal with it.

Look at what we are doing to the ocean, look at what we are doing to the ocean, look at what we are doing to Cook Inlet. Give me a break! Are people blind

Munoz says too much human waste is going into Cook Inlet. Munoz, whos son still runs the familys A1 Septic, has been in a decidedly unsexy business since her family moved to the Valley from New York in the early 1970s. She says since that time, the Borough has built new schools, roads, not to mention thousands of houses to meet a growing population demand, yet has neglected one basic human need.. waste disposal.

You dont build a house and ask to use your neighbors bathroom for the rest of your life.

Mat Su has no Borough -wide sewer system, although the cities of Palmer and Wasilla have their own sewers and treatment plants. Most residences in the Borough have septic tanks, which must be pumped out every year, or two. And the septic sludge, as it is called, is hauled to Anchorage in pumper trucks for treatment at municipal facilities.

Mike Campfield, an environmental engineer with the Borough, along with Munoz, is a member of the Boroughs wastewater and sewer advisory board.

One of the projects that is at the top of our list of priorities is to develop a septage and leachate treatment facility. The board in the past has recommended that the Borough Assembly pursue funding in the form of both a grant and a DEC backed loan, he says.

In December, the advisory board approved a Borough Assembly resolution authorizing the Borough to ask for a $22 million loan from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for design and construction of a sewage treatment plant in the Borough. Campfield says, there is still a long way to go on the project. But the arrangement the Borough has with Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility may be coming to an end. Brett Jokela is AWWUss general manager.

We dont have any deadline, were not going to turn them off. But on the other hand, we are not in control of the timeline for reauthorization of our permit, either, Jokela says. Jokela says the utilitys board wants to halt taking septage from the Valley. He says that decision is driven in part by the status of the utilitys EPA permit.

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Mat Su Pursues Waste Solution