Kotzebue’s water system runs on what's known as a loop system. Pipes carry water back and forth from the city’s centrally located treatment plant.
But on Feb. 4, the largest and oldest of the city's loops – known as the Swan Lake Loop – shut down. City officials said the pipe froze up, compromising water quality and supply to nearly 200 homes. The City of Kotzebue and the Northwest Arctic Borough declared a disaster four days later.
It’s not the first time this loop has had problems.
Kotzebue Public Works Director Russ Ferguson said the pipes “froze solid” about 30 years ago. He said most of Kotzebue went without water and sewer until the springtime thaw, from January to April.
Now, some residents without running water are concerned about fire safety. At least one housing complex burned down when the water main froze up in the 1990s.
But Acting Fire Chief Chloe Bellflower said the city is prepared for a fire. Ferguson said he doesn't believe the situation will be as serious this time, in part because of a partnership with a local contractor, Drake’s Construction, that has more access to de-thawing equipment. Bellflower said that only 7,000 linear feet are frozen, about half the Swan Lake Loop. With more advanced equipment, Ferguson said thawing the line could be much easier than it was in the 1990s.
“With the advent of ground thaw units, we have the ability to start working on this system,” Ferguson said.
He said the loop had problems even before the blockage, as recently as last month.
“Three weeks ago, we had a conserve water notice because we were losing 100,000 gallons a day from somewhere and couldn't determine where,” Ferguson said. “We found it on the Swan Lake Loop ”
The city determined that a faulty weld connecting two pipes caused the burst. Ferguson said a second weld failed last week on the same loop, resulting in a loss of over 50,000 gallons of water, which is about half of what an average American household uses in one year. Ferguson said supplemental heat pumps also failed about two weeks ago and are on backorder.
Now that Swan Lake loop is partially frozen, the city is racing against time before cold temperatures freeze more of the water main and individual service lines.
According to the city, as of Monday nearly 56 homes were without running water and lacked plumbing. Dozens more have running but non-potable water. Some residents have resorted to honey buckets. If water is not flowing on the Swan Lake Loop, other residents’ water and sewer could be affected, too.
The city, the Native Village of Kotzebue, and Kikiktagruk Inupiat Corporation are delivering water and buckets to residents affected by the water crisis. Ferguson said the city is also looking for funds to help residents with frozen service lines.
“City code does not allow for the city to be working on people's service lines. But because of this emergency, the city is footing the bill for the residences on that loop,” Ferguson said. “It's gonna be $1,500 to $2,000 per resident.”
City Manager Tessa Baldwin said that the loop repair alone will cost money the city just doesn't have.
“It's about $14 million, just replace the water main, this does not include service lines,” Baldwin said.
She said the city is also looking for an additional $14 million to replace Lagoon Loop, a loop built around the same time as Swan Lake Loop, which is in desperate need of repair. Lagoon Loop supplies water to the hospital and surrounding areas.
Baldwin said the city doesn’t have a timeline for when the loop will be operational again.
“What we do know is that when we did dig up the water main, it took us two to three days just for one section of the water main because of the frozen solid ground,” Baldwin said.
City staff are asking residents to report their water situation if they experience any changes.
