Meeting the needs of a growing community

Project: Four-acre sewage lagoon expansion.

The community of New Stuyahok, which in Yup’ik means going downriver place, is located on the Nushagak River near Bristol Bay. But it has lived other places, too. The community first moved inland in 1918, from the old village site to participate in reindeer herding for the U.S. Government.

By 1942 the reindeer herds were disappearing from Alaska and a series of damaging floods, combined with a need to be closer to barge services, led to relocation once again. This time the community moved downstream, its present location. Gradually, New Stuyahok’s population increased. Yet population growth meant the community was soon outgrowing its sanitation system.

A new multi-million dollar school couldn’t come online because sanitation facilities were already at capacity. Newly constructed homes in the community were without services.

That’s why DEHE Engineers and a local hire workforce began construction of a new, state-of-the-art sewage lagoon. The facility was designed with New Stuyahok’s growth in mind: it can accommodate a steady population increase for decades to come.

Still, major challenges stood in the way. All the construction equipment, fuel and supplies had to be barged up the Nushagak River. A complicated web of state, federal and tribal jurisdictions greatly limited operational parameters and flexibility. Finally, a series of serious engineering challenges threatened to stall the project right at the time that moving forward was of the essence.

Thanks to the hard work of the local community-DEHE partnership, the project became one of the successes of the 2009 construction season. Now New Stuyahok has a state-of-the-art, best-in-class facility that every home in the community can rely on for years to come.