Borough: Latest tests show improvement in Talkeetna sewer lagoon

According to testing information supplied by the Mat-Su Borough, fecal coliform levels are either at or near the permit maximum for the Talkeetna sewer lagoon. This comes after months of noncompliance and various steps taken by the borough to attempt to bring the numbers back in line.

According to Public Works Director Terry Dolan, two tests were taken in September and sent to two different test labs. This was done in part due to an anomalous test that was conducted in August. The lagoon’s permit from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation allows for a small amount of fecal coliform in the water flowing out of the lagoon and into the Talkeetna River. One of September’s tests came back just under that limit, and the other came back at about seventy-five percent over the limit. Whichever test is considered, it represents a significant improvement over the summer months. The lower of the two August tests, for example, came back at five times the permitted limit. The other test is the one that Terry Dolan considers anomalous; it showed results seventy-five times the permitted limit. Dolan says he believes the material flowing into the lagoon was tested by mistake, since a contractor and not borough staff conducted that test.

Terry Dolan says the DEC permit requires discharge from the lagoon to stop for the winter later this month. During that time, wastewater collects until the natural treatment process can resume once the ice goes out in the spring. Dolan adds that the borough has plans to improve the lagoons’ effectiveness that will be implemented over the winter months. In previous statements, Dolan has said that it is the hope of the borough that the treatment system, which uses natural processes to break down human waste, will be able to function properly again once it stabilizes. The ultimate test of this year’s measures and those planned for the winter will come next month when hundreds of thousands of visitors once again descend upon Talkeetna.