Trident’s decision to reopen its Wrangell seafood processing plant after a three-year closure was welcome news for residents, thanks to the economic boost it will bring to town. However, since Trident is one of the community’s major water consumers, the Public Works Department must prepare the aging water treatment plant to handle increased demand this summer before the new water plant, which will have a much larger capacity, is ready to go.
The assembly unanimously approved $116,151 worth of spare parts for the current water treatment plant at its meeting March 14. The fix should help tide the facility over until the new plant is constructed in roughly two years.
Trident can use close to half a million gallons of water a day at its peak levels of operation. This summer, they won’t be running at full capacity, but the extra gallons will still put a strain on the water treatment plant.
“It’s just a lot more water that we have to try and process,” explained Public Works Director Tom Wetor. “One of our big limitations is that we can’t meet demand at our current plant. The plant was originally designed to produce 900,000 gallons per day. … We’ve had years where we’ve had 1.5 million.”
The new water treatment plant, which is in the final design stages, will be able to produce 2.3 million gallons per day. The increased capacity will help accommodate future population growth.
The current plant uses ozone — an odorless, colorless gas also found in Earth’s atmosphere — to remove contaminants from water, like bacteria, viruses and metals. When ozone is injected into the water, it eats away at organic materials and turns any iron or copper into solid particles that can be easily filtered out.
As their name suggests, ozone generators produce the ozone used to purify water. But some of the components inside the plant’s generators are burning up much faster than they should, and Public Works is not sure why.
Inside an ozone generator, reactors produce ozone, while tiny computers (called “mini septs”) guide the system, explained Wetor. “We burn through those things at a very high rate, a much higher rate than we should be,” he said. “We’ve had it studied several times and none of the people that have studied it have been able to say with absolute certainty, ‘this is the issue that’s causing the problem.’ Likely, it’s a combination of issues.”
Much of the spare parts money will go toward those ozone reactors and mini septs.
In September 2021, Public Works staff presented a plan to improve operations, but assembly members balked at the $400,000 price tag, especially since the plant would be replaced in the coming years.
“Because the new plant was on the horizon, it was kind of like, ‘well, let’s continue to try to get through,’” Wetor said. “And if it means we get a few extra spare parts to do that, it’s money better spent than spending close to a half a million dollars that we’re not going to use in one to two years.”
Even though the spare parts are less expensive than a total overhaul, Assemblymember Jim DeBord called the spare parts “a pretty expensive Band-Aid.”
“It kind of gives me heartburn, especially knowing that we’re not going to ever use this again,” he said. “Another year, spending 100 grand on this, and not knowing what the other issues are going to be.”
Wetor assured DeBord that Public Works would do its best to recuperate some of the money spent on the current water treatment plant once the new plant is operational. The manufacturer or other communities might be interested in buying the used parts from the borough at a discounted rate.
Regardless, the $115,161 bill for spare parts is the borough’s least expensive option to tide the community over while the new plant is under construction. “Basically, we’re spending an extra $80,000 on top of what we would have” for normal replacement parts, Wetor explained. “Our alternative was to spend $400,000, and even if we spent the $400,000 we would have to replace some mini septs and reactors.”
Wetor hopes that the new plant will be less “finnicky” to operate because it won’t involve ozone generators. “These components, they’re super expensive,” he said. “There’s 96 (mini septs) in each machine and there’s two machines.” In a single brownout or blackout, the plant has lost as many as eight mini septs at a time.
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