Utilities

Anchorage's water utility would cut its Eklutna hydro payments roughly in half

Anchorage's water utility would pay the Eklutna hydro owners about half as much under new deals, then could own water rights at the lake in 2055.

by Walter AlaskaNews22h ago2 min read

Bethel tells water customers to get their lines and tanks ready for freeze-up

Bethel told water customers to turn on their heat trace or glycol and keep hookups reachable. If a service line freezes anyway, the owner has to fix it.

by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read

Nome utility board lacks quorum at City Hall, reschedules for Friday

Nome's utility board met at City Hall instead of the power plant Tuesday but didn't have enough members to do business. It'll try again Friday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read

Juneau staff seek $3.5 million toward new Glacier Highway water main before road rebuild

Juneau utility staff want $3.5 million to start replacing an old water main under Glacier Highway, so it's in the ground before the state rebuilds the road.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Follows: Juneau Assembly to consider $10 million loan for Glacier Highway water main

Rural Alaska water utilities face Dec. 31 deadline for sanitation funding scores

Rural Alaska water utilities must submit paperwork by Dec. 31 for a score deciding sanitation project funding.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Windstorm cut power to at least 11,800 Chugach Electric members in Anchorage

Friday's windstorm drove trees into power lines, cutting power to at least 11,800 Chugach Electric members. A few hundred were still out early Saturday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Follows: Windstorm gusts hit 70 mph south of Eagle River, cutting power to over 13,500 MEA members

Anchorage water utility pulls a well after PFAS tests exceed a proposed standard

AWWU pulled an Anchorage Bowl well after tests found "forever chemicals" above a proposed standard. Most city water comes from Eklutna, where tests found none.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read

Cordova budget leaves water crew a worker short as it plans a Heney line rebuild

Cordova's water crew hiked in again and again to find at least five breaks in the Heney line. Next year's budget leaves it a worker short for a bigger fix.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read

Solomon tribe helps buy Nome's utility a bucket truck with federal grid money

The Village of Solomon put $125,000 toward a bucket truck for Nome's utility. It's the first tribe in its Bering Strait consortium to start spending its share.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

UAF honors Cordova Electric CEO Clay Koplin for microgrid work in Cordova

UAF honored Cordova Electric CEO Clay Koplin for microgrid work in a town with no outside power line, a few months before he takes over Matanuska Electric.

by Melinda Communities.News3w ago1 min read

Juneau Assembly to consider $10 million loan for Glacier Highway water main

Juneau's Assembly will weigh a $10 million state loan to replace a leaky 45-year-old water main, ideally before the state repaves the highway on top of it.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Anchorage's water utility could own the rights to most of the city's tap water in 2055

Most of Anchorage's tap water comes from a lake whose water rights belong to the hydro owners. A deal OK'd 12-0 lets the city's water utility own them in 2055.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage weighs Eklutna water deals after utilities decline to back its bid for a vote

Petersburg voters approve up to $3.3 million to finish a backup diesel generator

Petersburg voters OK'd up to $3.3 million, 709 to 366, for a backup diesel generator the borough says it needs before standby power falls short.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readFrom Oct 6

Anchorage weighs Eklutna water deals after utilities decline to back its bid for a vote

Anchorage tied its Eklutna water deals to Chugach and MEA backing its bid for a hydro vote. They declined, and the mayor wants the deals approved without it.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read

Golden Valley lifts first energy emergency alert, warns supply problems will continue

Golden Valley's first-ever energy emergency is over. A unit outage Monday left the co-op with one generator of backup; by Wednesday it was back to normal.

by Alaska News1mo ago3 min read

Anchorage Assembly to consider $1.7 million to design fix for Girdwood's drinking water well

Girdwood's main drinking water well lets surface water in, so it needs a treatment fix. The Assembly may add $1.7 million to design it Oct. 6.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kodiak Assembly member says Navy would back grid funding bid tied to Spruce Cape project

A classified Navy project at Spruce Cape could use 70% of Kodiak's power, an Assembly member says, and the Navy may back a grid funding bid.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage consent agenda carries $2.4 million in sludge hauling contracts

Two sludge hauling contracts worth up to $2.4 million with Around the Clock Pumping LLC, the lowest bidder on both routes, are on the Anchorage Assembly's consent agenda Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Seward survey respondents favor a local cooperative to run the city's electric utility

Most Seward survey takers want a local co-op to run the city's electric utility. The math hinges on a hydro project Chugach Electric also wants.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago3 min read

Kotzebue water system exceeds federal lead action level after two of 10 homes test high

Two of 10 Kotzebue homes tested above the federal lead action level. The city is testing more homes and says to run taps until cold before drinking.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

Nome utility board member says new housing project's septic units will need heavy upkeep

New Nome housing will run on above-ground septic units with grinders, pumps and UV lights. A utility board member says they will need a lot of babysitting.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Three Homer Electric generators failed at once, and hydro covered the gap

Three of Homer Electric's generators failed at once in August. It bought hydro to cover, from a dam whose lines cannot carry its full output.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

The line that powers Petersburg would leave federal license oversight

Petersburg gets its power over an 80-mile line from Tyee Lake. The agency running it wants that line out of its federal license, the second this year.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

A Southeast power agency seeks to free a line from federal terms

SEAPA wants to pull a 30-mile transmission line out of its Swan Lake hydro license before a 40-year relicensing, keeping the line but shedding the terms.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks companies seek a year-round water right for the pool at Circle Hot Springs

Two Fairbanks companies want a year-round water right at Circle Hot Springs — about 8.6 million gallons a day, on an application pending since 2020.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Talkeetna residents ask Mat-Su commission to oppose Front Street water tank site

Talkeetna's wells have too much arsenic. The borough's fix would clear 1.4 acres of woods with a bear trail through it, and neighbors want another site.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel's water plant has been sending filter backwash onto open ground

Water flushed from Bethel's treatment filters has been running onto the tundra instead of into the sewer lagoon. The city does not say for how long.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Ketchikan council to vote on seventh amendment to water consulting deal

Ketchikan avoided a $70 million filtration plant by proving its mountain-lake water meets federal conditions for filtration avoidance.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Matanuska Electric posts its list of $451,000 in unclaimed capital credits

Matanuska Electric says more than $451,000 in capital credits sit unclaimed by current and former members, with one owed roughly $15,000.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 1

Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter

Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter. Frozen lines hit triple the usual number, and thawing them is the customer's expense.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 20

Juneau's city-owned ski area has an unresolved drinking water violation

EPA records show a March drinking water violation at Eaglecrest Ski Area in Juneau, in the agency's most urgent category, with no resolution recorded.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

PFAS found in three Anchorage Bowl wells, one pulled from service

Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility found PFAS in three groundwater wells, pulled one from service, and is seeking $4 million in emergency contracts for water system work.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage weighs a $6.7 million bleach contract for its wastewater

Anchorage may spend up to $6.7 million on bleach to disinfect wastewater it discharges into Cook Inlet under a treatment waiver that expired 20 years ago.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Golden Valley was short on reserves 94 percent of the last 250 days

Golden Valley was short on generation reserves 94% of the last 250 days, and its mix models 17 shortfalls a year against a benchmark of one per decade.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

ENSTAR seeks a Southcentral gas rate hike as two landlords move to dismiss the case

ENSTAR wants to raise Southcentral gas bills by about $9 a month, and two landlords are moving to get the rate case thrown out before its September hearing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages get federal money to defend their power systems from hackers

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages are getting $1.73 million to harden their power systems against hackers. Some of those systems average four kilowatts.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

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

Anchorage's water-coagulant contract is back before the Assembly with a supplier $855K pricier than the first — and no explanation for the switch.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Chignik moves to surrender the federal license on its long-dormant hydro plant

Chignik moves to surrender the federal license on a hydro plant idle since 2012, to build a state-run replacement. Residents have until Sept. 10 to weigh in.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read

Cordova, in a rainy region, asks residents to conserve water

Cordova, in one of Alaska's rainiest regions, is running low on water after a dry stretch and low snowpack — and the coming rain won't be enough to refill it.

by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read

A village's water grant score can hinge on whether the clerk took a class

A free state course Aug. 3–11 can boost a village's water and sewer grant scores — clerk training counts for up to 40% of project points. Sign up by July 31.

by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read