In a resolution earlier this month, the Anchorage Assembly opposed the utilities’ proposal for how to restore water flow to the river, and asked for the delay to better asses options and their potential impacts.
Eklutna Lake in the Chugach State Park is the water reservoir for the Alaska's largest city Anchorage as seen on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The federal government sold the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project to the utilities under the terms of the 1991 agreement, which outlined the ongoing, legally-required effort to mitigate impacts of the earthen dam at the base of Eklutna Lake. The dam has dried up much of the 12-mile Eklutna River since it was built by the federal government in 1955.
Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel said in a written statement, “it’s unfortunate that the utilities won’t do the reasonable thing and take a pause.” The utilities’ plan could bring water to most of the riverbed as early as 2027, but it would not restore salmon to Eklutna Lake and to mountain streams that feed the lake.
The water utility could be affected in numerous ways, and those impacts would require further study and risk assessment, according to Corsentino’s letter. Changes in lake levels and water quality could affect the infrastructure, including the possibility that the current water intake might not work during periods of low lake level, he said. Uncontrolled flows of the reestablished river could scour and expose the water main and “threaten AWWU’s ability to reliably provide water.
The utilities pointed to dam removal and restoration work in Washington state that has been estimated to cost more than $350 million, including measures to protect water treatment and supplies, though they said that “may or may not” be indicative of potential costs to remove the Eklutna dam.
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