Courtesy of City Hall

Construction on the wastewater treatment plant could be delayed because of errors made by their contractor, Advanced Blasting.

The project is federally mandated. The new plant has to be up and running by the end of 2014, or the Environmental Protection Agency will fine the city up to $35,000 a month until the project’s complete.

Advanced Blasting of Anchorage was contracted to prepare the work site. City manager Chris Hladick says the company blasted almost two feet too deep into the bedrock. To fix that, workers will have to fill the empty space with compacted rock and concrete.

Hladick says that might require ordering new steel bars to reinforce the concrete, which have to be custom-made.

“The manufacturer of the rebar, they don’t have a lot of it on hand. They make it when the order comes through,” says Hladick. “So we don’t know if we have an issue with delay right now.”

Until now, the city’s been able to stay on track, despite an additional slip-up by Advanced Blasting.

In the past month, about a half-dozen undetonated sticks of dynamite have been recovered at the work site. They were all left behind by the blasting company. Hladick says the site’s now fully cleared. And he plans to hold the contractor accountable for the additional work.

“Once the final bills are all in, then we’re going to sit down and talk about it,” he says. “The city shouldn’t have had to go through this.”

Advanced Blasting didn’t respond to repeated requests for an interview.