Overhauling the city’s water supply is on the agenda for Tuesday's council meeting. Unalaska occasionally runs out of fresh water during peak processing season, and previous studies have shown the city needs an additional two to four million gallons a day of capacity in order to fully meet demand during those periods.

Council has previously considered several options for increasing the amount of available water: building new wells, raising the penstock on Icy Lake, and refurbishing existing wells. At a December meeting, the penstock and new well proposals drew criticism from council because of their expense, and in the case of new wells, their potential impact on subsistence salmon stocks.

The next phase of proposed work includes drilling a borehole to monitor the elevation of groundwater in Unalaska Valley. That will help the city figure out the impact of existing wells on the water table in the area, and the potential impact of future wells. The work also includes seismic refraction testing at potential well sites in Shaishnikoff Valley.

Neither of those would immediately increase the city’s water supply -- but another part of the proposed work could. Refurbishing the city’s existing water wells by cleaning filters that have been clogged by sediment and organic material could improve their output in the short-term.

The environmental consulting firm Shannon and Wilson is asking for $270,000 to complete the work.

City council will also consider a resolution urging the state to replace the ferry Tustumena. The resolution notes that the state has $50 million set aside for vessel replacement, and asks that the legislature put that funding towards a new ferry for Southwest Alaska.

The meeting starts early -- at 6pm in Council chambers.