3.0 Affected Environment - Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority

Knik Arm Crossing DraftFinal EIS
Affected Environment
3.2.3.1.4 Public utilities
Public utilities include water, wastewater, electricity, and solid waste disposal services. This
section discusses the availability of these services in the Study Area and the capacity of the
existing infrastructure.
Water supply
The Mat-Su
In Palmer, water is provided by three deep wells and is treated and stored in a million-gallon
reservoir (Mat-Su Borough Rural Healthcare Network 2005a). Local schools and the Palmer
Correctional Center operate individual well systems. The City is currently undertaking a
water/sewer extension to the Palmer-Wasilla trunk line. In addition to serving a new 75-bed
Matanuska Valley Medical Center with public water and sewer, several subdivisions along
the alignment will also be served.
The majority of homes in Wasilla use individual water wells, although the City operates a
piped water and sewer system (Mat-Su Borough Rural Healthcare Network 2005b). Water is
provided by a well at Spruce Avenue and two wells at Iditarod School, with a 2.3 milliongallon
storage capacity. The public water system serves about 746 customers. Funds have
been requested to develop an additional water source. Wasilla is also undertaking continued
extension of water and sewer lines toward the Palmer-Wasilla trunk line. Construction of
utilities along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway extension is intended to encourage development
of the corridor between the Parks Highway and Knik-Goose Bay Road.
Houston has no public water distribution system. About 60 percent of the city’s residents
have individual wells and complete plumbing; other residents haul water (Mat-Su Borough
Rural Healthcare Network 2005c). The school uses its own well water system. In the Port
MacKenzie District there is also no public water distribution system. Most year-round homes
in Point MacKenzie have individual water wells or catchment systems, with complete
plumbing, while others haul water (Mat-Su Borough Rural Healthcare Network 2005d).
Anchorage
The Municipality owns and operates the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility (AWWU),
the largest water utility in Alaska, serving Anchorage, Chugiak-Eagle River, Peters Creek,
Eklutna, and Girdwood (MOA 2005e). AWWU collects water from two major surface
watersheds, Eklutna Lake (35 million gallons per day [mgd]) and Ship Creek (24 mgd), and
several deep underground wells (20 mgd). Elmendorf currently supplements the water
produced by its own network of wells with a water transmission main from Fort Richardson
and purchased water from AWWU. Government Hill is on the AWWU water system. There
are no wells in the Government Hill area. Although some private wells are still in use in
Anchorage, the nearest active wells are located near the Mountain View area to the east and
in Midtown to the south (Steckel 2005).
Water is treated and piped throughout the municipality through 670 miles of transmission
and distribution lines. AWWU has over 52,000 water customer accounts, which equate to an
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