Wrangell is under a water boil advisory. The City and Borough of Wrangell issued the advisory on Sunday due to a glitch in equipment that assesses the town’s water chemistry. The boil water notice will remain in effect until the borough verifies that the treated water meets necessary standards.
On Sunday evening, storage tank levels dropped below the minimum threshold to ensure disinfection. Borough staff, with partners at the engineering firm DOWL, are working to refill the storage tanks with filtered and chlorinated water.
They are temporarily skipping the Dissolved Air Flotation treatment process to rapidly meet the borough’s demand. This will ensure they completely restore the DAF units to a balanced water chemistry, according to the borough.
Meanwhile, the borough said they are in close communication with the town’s primary water consumers to make sure their operations continue safely and conservatively. They include Sea Level Seafoods, SEARHC and Trident Seafoods.
To ensure safe drinking water, the borough is telling residents to boil water for one minute and let it cool before using – this includes for drinking, brushing teeth, food preparation, making ice and washing dishes.
This advisory will remain in effect until test results show zero bacteria in the treated water. The borough hopes the problem will be resolved within 48 hours.
For questions or additional information, contact City Hall at 907-874-2381 or email safewater@epa.gov for guidelines on safe drinking water.
