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Chiniak resident urges borough help to trigger public water-system testing
Summary
A Chiniak resident told the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly the community needs borough and school-board support to reach the 25-user threshold required to become a regulated public water system, which would trigger DEC-required testing and clarify whether a large filtration plant is necessary.
Monique Lewis urged the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly on Sept. 11 to help Chiniak become a regulated public water system so proper drinking-water testing requirements would apply.
"We're asking the assembly and the school board to partner with us to get through steps 1, 2, and 3," Lewis said, referring to the phased work she said is needed for the Chiniak community to meet the 25 regular-user threshold a public water system requires. "I will go on record right now as being willing to pay for the initial sampling cost personally," she said.
Lewis said current voluntary testing does not meet DEC testing standards and that being a regulated public water system would produce required sampling frequencies and clearer oversight. She said the community’s focus on an expensive filtration plant may be premature: becoming regulated would clarify testing requirements and whether major filtration is necessary. Lewis said some testing done in 2017 indicated oversight levels then were adequate and that state and federal grants exist for rural water systems once the applicable need is established.
She asked the assembly to signal support to the borough manager and the school board to help the community reach the enrollment threshold so the community can apply as a public water system and obtain definitive testing requirements and funding options.
No formal action was recorded at the special meeting to commit borough funds; Lewis said her group has offered manpower and initial sampling support to get to the application stage.
