Water Plant Supervisor Dennis Durr pours treated water from a tap. (Photo by Henry Leasia)

Low water levels at Lily Lake revealed a problem with the water line to the Haines Borough’s water treatment plant this summer. Now the water department is working with Southeast Roadbuilders to fix it.

The water line from Lily Lake was rebuilt in 2010 because the pipe was deteriorating. Haines Borough Public Facilities Director Ed Coffland says that the contractors who installed the pipe followed the design plans until they encountered a setback near the lake. 

“They followed the design all the way until they got up to the lake. Right at the lake, they encountered bedrock. Rather than, at that time, blast through the rock and get the pipeline down to where it needed to be to the grade it was designed to be, they just went up over the top of the rock,” Coffland says.

Laying the pipeline on top of the rock created a slight hump in its path down to the water treatment plant. For years, this did not cause any problems. But over the summer, the water level at Lily Lake dropped below this high point in the water line. This prevented the water from easily flowing down the pipe using just gravity. 

Coffland says last Tuesday a crew began trying to lower the water line to fit the original design specifications. 

“We’ve got a crew up there that’s digging and excavating and trying to get the line down,” Coffland says. “We may need to blast. We’re not sure that we’re going to have to blast. We’re going to try a rock chipper first and see if we can get it out to where it needs to be.”

Coffland says the work has not disrupted the pipeline yet, but if they have to blast they will need to cut the pipe and reinstall it. 

According to Coffland, drought conditions could continue to cause problems for Lily Lake in the future, so the water department is looking to better utilize other water sources around Haines.

“We have the Piedad Springs, which we use now. We got a design going to increase the flow of that. We have the Cathedral wells. It is potable water, but it has a taste to it and there have been some issues with the brewery and the distillery in town being able to use that water. But we’re looking at a treatment process for that,” Coffland says.

The borough hired Southeast Roadbuilders to assist the water department with the work on the Lily Lake water line. Coffland says that the budget for the project has been capped at $140,000. He imagines it will take a few weeks to complete.