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A pathway to a permanent solution for Juneau’s annual glacial outburst is coming soon. That’s according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Assistant Secretary Adam Telle, who said at a virtual press conference Thursday that the Corps will post a request for proposals this month for a solution to drain Suicide Basin, the glacial lake that produces the flood.
“We do believe that evacuating water from Suicide Basin is fundamentally the best way to prevent this from happening in the future,” Telle said.
But he said the Army Corps isn’t pinpointing the best way to do that on its own. Instead, the Corps is opening it up to bids from private companies and the public.
“With the approach that we are taking, it is to be broad enough and fast enough that we can take advantage of any technology that any vendor would bring to bear quickly,” Telle said about the request for proposals. The Army Corps plans to announce the RFP after this year’s flood, which is expected soon.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, whose office hosted the press conference, hinted that local mining companies could be interested in taking on the project.
“We’re going to get on this much more innovative solution — which maybe our miners can take advantage of — or others,” Sullivan said. “When they see this RFP, I think we’re going to see a real change of attitude on getting on this problem and fixing it quickly.”
Sullivan said that the ‘innovative solution’ — whatever it is — should give valley residents hope that a solution will come in just a few years, instead of the decade that the Army Corps initially talked about last year.
“Then, you know, people in Juneau can go on with their normal lives as opposed to having to hold their breath every summer and worry about their lives and their property,” Sullivan said.
In the past, the Army Corps has said that a tunnel, also called a lake tap, is the best solution. It would steadily channel water out of Suicide Basin like a bathtub drain, so it couldn’t rise to a level that would create a catastrophic flood, and the Army Corps estimated it would cost between $613 million and $1 billion.
At a community-led meeting in June, a local mining executive presented a plan that could cut the cost in half. Valley residents rallied around it.
The flood approaches
At the press conference, Telle said officials from the Army Corps will be on the ground Friday touring preparations for the flood that’s expected soon.
The National Weather Service predicts that Suicide Basin will be full between Aug. 8 and 10. The flood typically begins within a week after the basin is full, but it can happen at any time.
The glacial outburst flood starts when the water pressure in Suicide Basin builds up so much that it bores through the ice and floats Mendenhall Glacier, releasing billions of gallons of water into the suburban valley below.
The flood wall made of HESCO barriers, which are steel cages lined with fabric and filled with sand, just barely protected hundreds of valley homes during the flood last year. Now, after tens of millions of dollars invested by the Army Corps and the City and Borough of Juneau, the flood wall is higher and covers a longer stretch of the river.
“We assessed the chances of overtopping the HESCOs last year at 50-50, and we were very fortunate that the HESCOs held,” Telle said.
He said he views that statistical risk to be about the same this year.
Both Telle and Sullivan said a breach of the flood wall would most likely come from fast-moving water launching a tree into the HESCO barriers, which can burst them open and create an extremely dangerous flash flood.
“So even though it looks very solid, and I think we’re in about as good a shape as we can be, the danger here is still very high, and I think the citizens of Juneau all need to be aware of that,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he watched a video of a resident hanging out in a lawn chair on top of the flood wall as water rushed by last year, and encourages residents not to put their lives at risk.
This story was updated to include the recording of the virtual press conference.
