Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska municipal government continues to put pressure on the state for assistance with the development of a new wastewater treatment plant.

Last week, Mayor Shirley Marquardt, City Manager Chris Hladick, and Council Members Katherine McGlashan, Dick Peck, and Dennis Robinson traveled to Juneau to lobby the state for $8 million in assistance for the plant. Because the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the current facilities do not meeting their permitting standards, the city is working on the construction of a new plant, which could cost up to $24 million. The city is also in the process of developing a landfill to contain waste output.

Marquardt says that without the state's help, city services would have to be scaled back and sewage rates would skyrocket up to 200%.

"Can you imagine $150 on your monthly utility bill just for wastewater? Just to flush your toilet?" asks Marquardt.

Marquardt adds that on top of affecting the residential rate, the industrial rates for the seafood processing plants would also go up.

Unalaska, along with 75 other Alaskan communities, had previously received an exemption from secondary treatment of wastewater. Following a permitting error made by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the EPA required an upgrade of the facilities. The City of Unalaska could also potentially face a fine of over $1 million for not adhering to national standards, according to Marquardt. The state's interest in the project is that other communities may soon be confronted with major upgrades as well, should they lose their exemption.

"We basically came up first in line with this hardline EPA change," says Marquardt.

In February, Hladick testified on the importance of the wastewater treatment plant to Unalaska, and he will return to Juneau to continue to lobby for the project during the last week of the legislative session.

The Unalaska delegation also lobbied the state on several other issues during the visit to the capital. They discussed the need for an emergency mooring buoy in Unalaska for distressed vessels, and they also argued for increased education funding. School board member Melanie Magnusen also traveled to Juneau and joined the delegation in these appeals.