A non-profit has joined the efforts of finding solutions for the K-Beach area residents affected by flooding since October 2013.
The K-Beach Flood Mitigation Project formed in February and is working to fund projects to alleviate the existing impacts.
President Kelly Lipinski said one thing that sets the organization apart from the also recently formed K-Beach High-Water Drainage Task force is the ability to fund small projects.
Lipinski: “The task force is a group of community members that are concerned about the situation, they identify problems and try to find different agencies and entities that they might work with to sort of create solutions, they don’t actually solve those problems or have projects to complete those tasks. The non-profit’s purpose is to identify problems, come up with funding for projects that will actually create solutions for the project and see those to completion.”
Thus far the non-profit has worked with the task force to propose a $330,000 feasibility study of the entire aquifer to the state but Lipinski said they realize in the current budget deficit, that source of funding may be unlikely.
One venture currently moving for the K-Beach Mitigation Project is the Seventh Street Water Conveyance Structure.
Lipinski: “The hydrology has already been completed, Andy High is the engineer working on that for us in Anchorage, and the expected completion day is actually this Wednesday, so we’re hoping to have it out by this Thursday. Once we have the engineering complete then we can complete the final applications that we need to submit.”
Lipinski said they will continue to network with the community and attend K-Beach High-Water Drainage Task Force meetings, the next of which has been scheduled for March 23.
For more information on that non-profit email [email protected].
