July 11, 2019
Thursday AM

Dear Editor:

Does the City of Ketchikan filter the drinking water it provides to the public?

In years past, the Ketchikan Pulp Company brought tremendous amounts of chlorine into Ketchikan to bleach their pulp. Where did it all go? 

Alaska Pulp Corporation did the very same thing in Sitka. APC imported 4,000 metric tons of liquid Chlorine into Sitka every month.  Every bit of the chlorine the APC mill ever used, STAYED in Sitka. It all stayed in Sitka in the form of dioxin-contaminated "boiler fly ash", a by-product burning wastewater treatment plant sludge in the mill's Power Boilers. 

ALL  fly ash produced by APC went, either into the  AIR , the  MILL OUTFALL into Silver Bay , the  ALASKA PULP MILL landfill , or the  City of Sitka Municipal landfill.  No fly ash ever left  the airshed .of Alaska Pulp's mill.  

Where did all the boiler fly ash from KPC go?

In both instances, the fly ash produced by these mills contained high levels of dioxin ... a proven cause of cancer and birth mutations in humans.   

Ward Cove is heavily-contaminated with fly ash and dioxin.  KPC's entire airshed is contaminated with fly ash and dioxin.

Is it even possible for Ketchikan's drinking water source to actually free from fly ash/dioxin contamination?

Florian Sever 
Sitka, Alaska

Editor's Note:

The text of this letter was NOT edited by the SitNews Editor.

Received July 08, 2019 - Published July 11, 2019

Related Viewpoint:

Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:

Webmail Your Opinion Letter to the Editor

 

SitNews ©2019
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews are considered protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources. E-mail your news & photos to editor@sitnews.us Photographers choosing to submit photographs for publication to SitNews are in doing so granting their permission for publication and for archiving. SitNews does not sell photographs. All requests for purchasing a photograph will be emailed to the photographer.