The Anacortes City Council in Washington State USA authorized on Monday the sale of up to $48.1 million in 20-year revenue bonds to fund improve...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
The bonds, essentially money borrowed from bond investors, are backed by utility revenues and will be paid by utility user fees, not tax revenue. Proportionally, residential customers will pay less than larger wholesale customers. Debt from the bond will cost a residential customer about 2 cents per month, Finance Director Steve Hoglund said.
Here’s what the bond money will buy: A second water line from the Skagit River to the water treatment plant; a water-treatment storage well, called a clear well; purchase of a property easement for the water line; installation of a security risk and leak detection system; and a new sewer outfall.
Bond funds will also be used to pay off an earlier, higher interest bond. Interest on that bond was 5.5 to 6%. The current interest rate in the bond market is 3%, Hoglund said.
The City of Anacortes operates a regional water system. It receives its water from the Skagit River, on which it owns a water right, and distributes treated water to residents and businesses within the city limits. In addition, Anacortes provides water wholesale to the City of Oak Harbor and NAS Whidbey Island, the Town of La Conner, Skagit Public Utility District and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, which then resell the water to their customers.
Public Works Director Fred Buckenmeyer said new technology will be installed, funded by the bond revenue, to bolster security of the water system. Sensing equipment will be capable of detecting whether someone touches the exterior of a water pipeline or touches a valve.
“It will send a signal within 3 feet of where that’s happening, in real time,” he said. Cameras will be installed that will automatically turn on when someone intrudes on the water system.
In addition, a leak detection system will be able send a signal if a leak as small as 3 mm in size occurs, in real time and within 3 to 10 feet of the leak occurred, Buckenmeyer said.
New sewer outfall
The City Council approved the installation of a sewer outfall in September 2019. Here’s the issue: Once every two years, storm events can threaten to overwhelm the wastewater treatment plant, resulting in the release of combined stormwater and untreated wastewater to be discharged into Guemes Channel. That, according to a memo from the Public Works Department to the City Council last year, “violates the conditions of the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.”
The city’s stormwater and wastewater systems are largely separate. Stormwater is discharged directly into surrounding waters and is not treated at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. However, “Areas within the City of Anacortes are served by a partially combined sewer system where both the storm and sanitary sewer systems are joined,” according to the wastewater treatment plant website. Those combined systems — on B Avenue and Q Avenue — have “the potential to allow untreated wastewater combined with stormwater to discharge to Guemes Channel during extreme storm events.”
https://www.goskagit.com/anacortes/news/council-approves-48-1-million-bond-to-fund-water-sewer-improvements/article_3c2f71cc-f826-11ea-ae68-3f2c5dc6a575.html
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