DEC would renew Juneau's wastewater permit after three years of violations, with comments due Oct. 9

Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation has tentatively decided to reissue the City and Borough of Juneau's permit to discharge secondary treated wastewater to Gastineau Channel. It posted the draft Sept. 9 after an Aug. 14 to 28 applicant review; comments are due Oct. 9.

The permit expired Feb. 28 and has run on administrative continuation. EPA records violations in 12 of the last 13 quarters, two of them significant.

The draft would allow a maximum 6 million gallons a day, unchanged from 2020. Its reported monthly averages over 31 months through June ran 0.72 to 1.4 million, averaging 0.96.

It proposes a mixing zone near the outfall for total ammonia as nitrogen, copper, dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, enterococci, temperature and whole effluent toxicity, a test of whether the effluent harms aquatic life. Mixing zones create localized areas where criteria go unmet.

Alaska sets those limits by use: for raw shellfish harvesting, a 30-day geometric mean, an average that damps single spikes, of 14 fecal coliform per 100 milliliters; for contact recreation, 35 enterococci.

Comment at DEC's public notice site, or to permit writer Amber Bennett, [email protected], (907) 451-2190.