Wastewater Treatment

John M. Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility

The John M. Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility, built in 1972, is Alaska's largest wastewater treatment facility. As wastewater treatment technology has evolved and the demands of the community have grown, the John M. Asplund facility has kept pace. It was upgraded in 1982 to a 28 million gallon per day (mgd) facility and upgraded again in 1989 to a 58 mgd facility. Ingenuity and extensive maintenance have consistently enabled AWWU to operate this facility at its optimum level.

The extreme high tides and natural water flow of Cook Inlet complement the treatment process. These factors allow the John M. Asplund facility's treated effluent to be discharged into Cook Inlet with no adverse effect to the environment. The dynamics of Cook Inlet, the high level of primary treatment removal, 80 percent, and chlorination allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue Anchorage a waiver from secondary treatment. To continue operating under the waiver, AWWU maintains an extensive marine monitoring program. The program makes certain that the treatment facility's discharge has no negative impact to the environment of Cook Inlet.

History of the John M. Asplund Wastewater Treatment Plant - [pdf]

Treatment At The Highest Standards

AWWU's Eagle River and Girdwood Wastewater Treatment Facilities are modern, tertiary (three stage) treatment plants. Their effluent discharge into Glacier Creek and Eagle River is near drinking water quality. The Eagle River Wastewater Treatment Plant was expanded in 1991 to 2.5 mgd for enough capacity into the year 2005. In 1995 it received EPA's Medium Plant Of The Year award for the Pacific Northwest/Alaska Region.

Girdwood has a treatment capacity of 650,000 gallons per day. It will also be equipped to expand and double its treatment capacity for future years.

Eagle River WW Treatment Facility	Girdwood WW Treatment Facility