Anchorage's water-coagulant contract returns with a pricier winner

Anchorage's contract to buy its water-clarifying coagulant is back before the Assembly with a different, more expensive winner. On Aug. 4, the Assembly had a recommendation to buy the chemical from Alaska Mill & Feed for about $2.7 million, but the item died without a vote. The version now before it recommends a different supplier, Univar Solutions, at about $3.6 million — a ceiling $855,400 higher — and lists the two other bidders, including Alaska Mill & Feed, as nonresponsive.

The memo calls Univar the only qualifying bidder of three but doesn't explain how the earlier recommendation, for a cheaper supplier, became this one. Univar would supply the coagulant to the Eklutna and Ship Creek plants through 2029.

A smaller contract is also up. Riverland Trading would supply fluoride to the Eklutna plant for up to about $741,000 over a base year and three optional renewals. City code requires the water utility to fluoridate, and it does so at 0.7 milligrams per liter, which it calls the nationally recommended level.

Neither figure is committed money — both are ceilings the utility draws against as it orders chemicals. Eklutna supplies about 92% of the water to the Anchorage Bowl and Eagle River, serving roughly 225,000 people. The two contracts, worth up to $4.34 million combined, are on the Assembly's consent agenda Tuesday, meaning they pass without debate unless a member pulls one.