Wrangell may need to add disinfection to sewage treatment

Wrangell is one of nine Alaska communities operating under old federal permit waivers from costly secondary treatment for its sewage water discharge, and officials expect the upcoming permit reissuance will require the community to disinfect its wastewater before piping it into Zimovia Strait.

“Everyone says the same thing … disinfection is coming,” Tom Wetor, the borough’s Public Works director, said last Friday. “It’s been reiterated to us multiple times.”

Construction and installation of a disinfection system could cost around $2 million, said Randy Bates, director of the Water Division at...