The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has released a report listing 15 water systems in Alaska that contain lead levels above the federal limit, and the City of Seldovia is among them.
At the last City Council meeting, Seldovia City Manager, Tod Larson, responded to the report, stating that old pipes and faucets are the issue. He advised running water before using it.
“The water from the current water treatment plant is safe. As it comes into the house, the water goes through some older pipes and some lead is leaching there, so we told them they need to run their water for about two minutes. There also are water testing programs that can test the water from the Department of Environmental Health with the state and finally that there will be a new additive in the water plant that will assist in coating the pipes,” said Larson.
The additive will coat the pipes, larson says, in an effort to stop the contamination.
Seldovia’s water system contained 22 parts per billion of lead. The legal limit is 15 parts per billion.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
