Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on an $859K Eklutna River study

The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled Tuesday to award a nearly $860k contract to Tetra Tech for a water boundary study of the Eklutna Lake and River system. The one-year contract directs Tetra Tech to model and evaluate hydrologic and operational boundaries that influence municipal water supply, hydropower generation, and instream-flow restoration.

The contract is procedural; the question behind it is not. The Eklutna Hydroelectric Project has been a multi-decade, multi-stakeholder negotiation about how to balance several competing Alaska priorities: hydroelectric generation (The project has a nameplate capacity of about 47 megawatts and is one of the few non-gas generation sources in the Anchorage-area electric mix.); Anchorage's drinking water supply (Eklutna Lake is part of the AWWU system); fish and wildlife restoration (the Eklutna River was historically dewatered below the project diversion); and tribal interests advanced by the Native Village of Eklutna, which has long advocated for river restoration.

The project is governed by a 1991 Fish and Wildlife Agreement among the project owners (Chugach Electric Association, Matanuska Electric Association, and the Anchorage Hydropower Utility) and state and federal agencies. That agreement requires the parties to address fish and wildlife impacts; the current negotiations are about how to do that. The Lower Eklutna River Dam was removed in 2018 with restoration funding. The main project diversion continues to operate.

The historical salmon question is genuinely contested. Research from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and other sources has produced varied findings on the extent of historical anadromous fish presence in different parts of the Eklutna watershed. The Native Village of Eklutna and restoration advocates argue the historical record and traditional knowledge support significant restoration. Power and water utility interests have argued for approaches that maintain project capacity. The 2024 term sheet referenced in the procurement materials specifies that a new water agreement would begin only after the Governor of Alaska approves a Fish and Wildlife Program for the watershed — meaning the state, not just the municipality and project owners, has a substantive role.

The climate dimension is also real. Hydropower is among the lowest-carbon electricity sources in Anchorage's mix. Reducing Eklutna output, all else equal, would increase reliance on gas-fired generation, which lands inside the broader Cook Inlet gas supply story Chugach Electric and other Southcentral utilities are actively navigating.

Three firms competed.

Tetra Tech scored 282, Stantec scored 255, and Geosyntec scored 248. Evaluation was conducted by a team from the Anchorage Hydropower Utility and PPS Consulting. The Anchorage Hydropower Utility negotiated the contract on behalf of the municipality. The administration recommends approval.