Boil Water Notice Still in Effect – Water Treatment Plant Status Update
Updated: July 22, 2025 at 9:30am
Boil Water Notice Still in Effect – Water Treatment Plant Status Update
The City and Borough of Wrangell remains under a boil water notice. However, we’re pleased to report that the water treatment plant operated successfully overnight and is currently producing high-quality water.
Another round of water sampling is required, and results typically take 24 hours to process. We anticipate receiving results by Wednesday afternoon and will provide an update at that time regarding the status of the boil water notice.
In the meantime, Borough staff will begin flushing hydrants throughout the distribution system. This process helps move water through the system and ensures higher quality water reaches all areas. Residents may notice water being flushed from hydrants — this is normal and not a cause for concern.
While flushing is underway, we kindly ask residents to conserve water where possible to ensure optimal system turnover and support the distribution of clean water.
We appreciate your continued patience and cooperation. For questions, please contact City Hall at (907) 874-2381.
For general guidelines about safe drinking water, you may also email safewater@epa.gov.
The City and Borough of Wrangell State Water System ID#: 120143
###
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updates: July 21, 2025 at 7:45pm
BOIL WATER NOTICE – STATUS UPDATE
We are pleased to report that in the past few hours staff successfully restarted the DAF system and have observed encouraging progress during its startup phase. The system is not yet fully operational, as it will take several more hours to reach full functionality. Staff have also begun the process of backwashing the filters.
Please note that the boil water notice remains in effect and will remain in place until DEC (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation) has given the approval to rescind the boil water notice. Water quality testing must be completed and approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) before the notice can be lifted.
It will take a minimum of 24 hours to fully clear older water from the system. If this progress continues, the Borough may be able to lift the Boil Water Notice sometime on Wednesday.
We thank the community for your continued patience and extend our appreciation to the Water Department staff for their hard work throughout this process. We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available. Your health and safety remain our top priority, and we thank you for your continued patience and cooperation
For questions, please contact City Hall at (907) 874-2381. For general guidelines about safe drinking water, you may also email safewater@epa.gov.
The City and Borough of Wrangell State Water System ID#: 120143
###
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated: July 21, 2025 at 10:30am
BOIL WATER NOTICE – STATUS UPDATE
The City and Borough of Wrangell continues to actively address the current water quality issues resulting from an equipment malfunction at the Water Treatment Plant, specifically related to equipment responsible for assessing water chemistry. Borough staff, in coordination with our engineers from DOWL, are working diligently to refill our storage tanks with adequately filtered and chlorinated water. To quickly meet current demand and build a sufficient water supply buffer, we are temporarily bypassing the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) treatment process. This temporary measure will allow us the necessary time to restore the DAF units fully, ensuring our complete capability to provide the highest quality drinking water possible.
The malfunctioning equipment is crucial because accurate assessment of water chemistry is necessary to properly create flock in the DAF process. Without correctly balanced water chemistry—something that varies significantly based on weather conditions influencing our raw water source—the DAF plant cannot adequately treat water.
It is important to clarify that the Borough has an abundant supply of raw water. The critical challenge lies in our current capacity to safely treat and distribute this water due to the equipment malfunction.
Current water quality testing suggests that treated water may already meet or fall below the regulatory limits set by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (18 AAC 80.635 regarding turbidity and disinfection standards). However, out of an abundance of caution and to best protect public health, the Boil Water Notice will remain in effect until we conclusively verify that water meets all required standards.
We remain in close communication with key water consumers, including SEARHC, Trident Seafoods, and Sea Level Seafoods, to ensure their operations proceed safely and conservatively without hindering our ability to bring the Water Treatment Plant fully back online.
Additionally, contrary to some public comments, the Borough has not been supplying cruise ships with water, and any minimal water previously provided was not a contributing factor to the current water treatment, storage, and distribution issue.
To expedite the resolution, we are arranging to fly in additional water chemistry experts to assist our team in restoring the plant to full operational capacity. We kindly request the community’s continued patience and understanding as we navigate the learning curve associated with operating a newly commissioned facility. Our raw water source frequently fluctuates, requiring continual adjustments and fine-tuning of complex plant components.
The Borough will provide ongoing updates to keep the community informed. Your safety remains our top priority, and we appreciate your cooperation during this process.
For questions or additional information, please contact City Hall at (907) 874-2381, or email safewater@epa.gov for general guidelines regarding safe drinking water.
Thank you for your patience and support.
The City and Borough of Wrangell State Water System ID#: 120143
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated: July 20, 2025 at 6:30pm
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
For immediate release: July 20, 2025, at 6:30 p.m.
BOIL WATER NOTICE UPDATE
What should I do?
- DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.
- Organisms that can be present in water can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems.
- The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. People at increased risk should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.
What happened? What is being done?
An equipment failure has resulted in a disruption to the Water Treatment Plant’s capacity to treat water at adequate volume to meet community demand, and of adequate turbidity to meet regulatory requirements.
Additionally, because finished water storage tanks drew down to levels inadequate to meet disinfection contact time, a Boil Water Notification was necessary to ensure the health and safety of the community.
Staff are working to resolve the issues, and once turbidity levels and disinfection contact time have returned to an acceptable range, water quality testing will be required to verify that it is safe to drink.
The City of Wrangell will inform the community when tests show no bacteria, and you no longer need to boil your water. We anticipate resolving the problem within 48 hours.
For questions or concerns, please contact Kim Lane at City Hall at (907) 874-2381 ext. 5. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at safewater@epa.gov.
Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.
This notice is being sent to you by The City and Borough of Wrangell - State Water System ID#: 120143.
###
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Water Conservation - UPDATED
Due to an unexpected operational issue at the water processing plant, residents are requested to conserve water until further notice.
Crews are working diligently to restore full processing capabilities as quickly as possible.
Your cooperation and patience are appreciated.
An update will be provided once the conservation request has been lifted.
If you have any questions, please contact Public Works at 907-874-3602.
###
