The coastal communities of Alaska have over a quarter U.S. wastewater plants that remain able to treat their wastewater in the most basic technology level. However, six cities located in Southeast Alaska may soon have to make investments in upgrades to clean up their wastewater prior to releasing it into the ocean.
This is the message that comes from draft permits that were released or are set to release from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has found that too much bacteria is leaking out of the sites into the marine waters.
The agency released an proposal for a permits for the wastewater plant of Haines Borough which calls for the disinfection of the bacteria that are in the treated wastewater. At present, there no disinfection process at the Haines plant and the discharges have large amounts of fecal and coliform as well as Enterococcus bacteria that are the most common contaminants found in wastewater, EPA said. To meet the state’s water quality standards The plant rely on a huge “mixing zone” located in Portage Cove, EPA said.
Mixing zones have been identified in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation as defined zones “where an approved wastewater discharge is subject to initial diluting” and in which pollutant levels could exceed standards for water quality.
According to the analysis of EPA that the mixing zone in Haines is not sufficient anymore. The agency’s analysis of Haines operations found that in the absence of improvements the facility “has the possibility of being able to contribute to or cause an infraction” of Alaska standards for water quality.
Similar requirements are contained in the draft permit that was issued in October to Wrangell’s water treatment plant in Wrangell and included an identical analysis. In the pipeline, EPA said, are new draft permits for Skagway, Sitka, Petersburg and Ketchikan. The six Southeast sites operate on permits issued in the past 20 years and are regularly extended by administrative procedures.
Six communities which stretch between the northern and southern reaches in the Inside Passage and discharging into rapidly moving marine waters are among the small number of communities in the United States that have municipal wastewater treatment facilities which are allowed to apply basic treatment on the waste they process, as per EPA. Primary treatment is the process of removing solids and the six wastewater treatment plants depend on massive mixing zones within their discharge zones.
The vast majority of publically owned wastewater facilities across the United States have to provide at least a second stage of treatment, according to Suzanne Skadowski, a spokeswoman for EPA’s regional office in Seattle. 10 office. The secondary treatment utilizes bacterial as well as additional physical processes to eliminate around 85 percent of contaminants. it’s a common practice in most facilities. Certain plants employ the third treatment level that employs more sophisticated techniques to eliminate contaminants.
All in all, 24 plants all over the country are exempt from the requirement for secondary treatment Nine of them are located situated in Alaska, Skadowski said.
The cost of adding disinfection to wastewater treatment processes across the six Southeast communities, or upgrading to secondary treatment systems is not yet clear.
Even if EPA finds that Southeast Alaska wastewater plants deserve to receive exemptions pursuant to the Clean Water Act from secondary treatment However, the Alaska DEC will take the final decision as to the plant’s eligibility to get them.The state agency is able to exercise authority over the permitting of wastewater discharges in Alaska and has the ability to require higher standards than those set by EPA the federal agency claimed.
Out of the 9 Alaska facilities that have waivers, the largest by far most significant is John M. Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is operated through the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. The facility, which is home to the majority of residents in the state’s biggest city, discharges its wastewater into the silty, fast-moving water of Cook Inlet. In contrast to the seven Southeast Alaska sites, the Asplund plant employs chlorine as a disinfectant in the process of treatment prior to discharge of wastewater through the outlet.
Asplund plant Asplund Plant is running under the approval of a permit that was granted in 2000, and has been maintained by administrative actions, Skadowski said. “We have been in an beginning process of talking with Alaska DEC and Anchorage regarding updating the application with updated information,” she said by email.
Other Alaska communities with wastewater facilities currently operating under waivers that only allow secondary treatment of wastewater are Pelican as well as Whittier, Skadowski said.
The story first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
