A number of residents have been questioning the recent appearance of chlorine in Talkeetna’s water, which did not previously exist.
The Talkeetna Sewer and Water utility will be sending out an annual Water Quality report to all customers on the water and sewer system.
The report provides customers some details as to what the water contains and how it compares to standards set by regulatory agencies such as DEC
Last year the water was tested for 80 different possible contaminants, but only six were detected. As stated in previous KTNA stories, the only contaminant that tested above EPA standards was arsenic. A treatment system was required to be installed in order for the water to meet national and state standards.
With the installation of the system has come chlorination. Talkeetna utility employee Mike Kilgo has referred all questions on the chlorine to his supervisor at the Borough level, Chuck Braun. After repeated calls to the Mat Su Borough Public Works department to get information on if and why the water contains chlorine and if it is a permanent chemical in the system, Braun has refused to do an interview, referring questions back to his employee. Braun does not want to go on the record and has sent the following Public Service announcement —
“The arsenic treatment plant was installed to create safe and high-quality drinking water. Chlorine is used to help remove arsenic from the water. Very minute amounts of chlorine are present, 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million. This is drastically below the 4 parts per million maximum level defined by the Environmental Protection Agency. Anything below 4 parts per million is not a health risk. Once the arsenic treatment plant moves from a calibrating mode into a standard operational mode, the Borough intends to lower the chlorine levels even further, while still maintaining compliance with the EPA and Alaska DEC guidelines for arsenic levels. ”
The Talkeetna Sewer and Water Board meets the first Wednesday of every month at 3 pm at the Talkeetna Fire Hall. Any resident can be a persons-to-be-heard at any of these public meetings. KTNA will continue to follow this story.
