The City of Unalaska has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency over thousands of Clean Water Act violations by the City’s wastewater treatment plant. 

"This is one of those times that David actually beat Goliath,"  Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt said at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.  The Council voted unanimously at the meeting to sign a $340,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.  That’s much less than the $150 million dollar fine the EPA had originally sought.

The terms of the settlement aren’t final until they’ve been approved by the DOJ, but City attorney Brooks Chandler says that after all the time the parties have dedicated to hashing out the details, the deal should go forward without a hitch.

In addition to the fine, the settlement requires the city construct a new wastewater treatment plant and a storage tank for landfill runoff.  Those projects, which are expected to cost $18 million, should bring the city up to national water quality standards. 

Currently, the City’s wastewater treatment plant struggles to control discharge of sewage and heavy metals. The way the existing system is set up, runoff from the landfill, which contains lots of heavy metals, flows into the wastewater treatment plant and coats the UV lights that are supposed to kill harmful bacteria in the sewage.

“Now you’re outside the parameters of your permit, you’ve gotta take the bulbs out, you gotta clean them," City Manager Chris Hladick says.  "Those guys have to clean them constantly.”

Hladick says the new system will use chemical treatments, including chlorine, to remove the heavy metals and kill the bacteria.

Councilor Dave Gregory said at the meeting he’s happy the city will be improving the quality of its wastewater.

“I think the highlight of this is that we’re going to have a wastewater treatment plant that will have a significant impact on the water that feeds into the bay, so I think that in that regard, this is a positive.”

Several other Councilors echoed Gregory’s comments, but added that the solution will come at a high cost to city residents.  Manager Chris Hladick says utilities customers will almost definitely see an increase in their bills, although it’s not clear when.  Hladick says depending on the final project costs and how much the Council decides to subsidize the utility, customers could see increases of $80 a month or more on their sewer bills.

Although this is likely the end of the current wastewater treatment issue, City Manager Chris Hladick says the settlement doesn’t guarantee anything beyond 2021.  He says more upgrades might be necessary in the future, both for Unalaska and other communities in the state.

“On a statewide basis the policy that was passed by Senator Stevens in 1979 had 78 villages that exempted them from applying for a waiver for secondary treatment.  And now I think all bets are off.  So, some of the communities on that list – Bethel, Kotzebue, Dillingham – I think some of the larger ones, when they go to renew, are going to have to build plants.  That’s my guess.”

The new plants he’s referring to are secondary wastewater treatment plants, which can cost tens of millions of dollars to build. Unalaska's settlement only requires enhanced primary treatment. The City's new wastewater plant will go online in 2016.

Click here for the city's press release.