Most people don’t think about the underground network of pipes that move sewage to Kotzebue’s treatment lagoons.
At least until something goes wrong.
“There’s been a number of instances where sewage is backed up into people’s homes,” said Chase Nelson, a civil engineer with Dowl. He helps the city manage capital projects.“We're really focusing on the repairs to minimize those types of events.”
The city now has the funding to make those repairs after a $12.5 million grant from Alaska Village Safe Water was announced during a city council meeting last month. City officials say it will pay for Kotzebue’s largest sewer project in decades.
A representative of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said most of the funding comes from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, with the state contributing a 25% match.
The money will fund new pipes and manholes near three of the system's 12 lift stations, said Russ Ferguson, the city’s public works director.
“Some of our sewer mains are 40 years old or older,” Ferguson said. “Some of them have cracks and breaks in them. Some of them have started to collapse in some areas.”
Cracked pipes don’t just cause backups — they also let groundwater and snowmelt seep in, adding strain to the overall system. It's a costly, avoidable problem the renovations are designed to fix.
“All that water has to be pumped through this series of lift stations and then out to the lagoon, where it's treated,” Nelson said.
He said the upgrades could also reduce the maintenance and labor needed for constant repairs.
There are other benefits as well, according to Kotzebue City Manager Ron Johnson.
“We're going to be able to have future housing, more commercial development,” Johnson said, “because you can’t keep adding things to an old system and expect it to be reliable.
Project engineers say the work will happen in three phases. The two phases will focus on pipes and manholes that serve most of Front Street. The final phase will focus on the area near Maniilaq Health Center.
In total, the project will replace or repair more than 3 miles of pipe, nearly five dozen manholes and 79 connections to individual service lines.
Ferguson said design work will take at least a year before construction can begin.
