Bethel, Alaska – The people in Tuluksak village have had running water back after more than a month without drinking water.
A fire destroyed the village’s water treatment plant in January, KYUK-AM reported on Friday.
Until the first week of March, residents were dependent on donations of bottled water.
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation last Tuesday managed to restore drinking water by installing a reverse osmosis water filtration system, also known as the RO.
“It goes through a series of filters to remove any type of contamination and then an RO treatment that further treats it,” said Cindy Christian, project manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s drinking water program.
She added, “And then the water from the RO is chlorinated to be disinfected and it can be used for all purposes, including drinking water.”
Before installing the new system, residents without mineral water had to collect and fetch water or ice from the nearby Tuluksak River or the more distant Kuskokwim River.
Residents in the past have complained about the poor water quality of the Tuluksak River, even when it is boiled, KYUK-AM reported.
The reverse osmosis system is intended to be a temporary solution until the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation can install a long-term system.
A temporary water treatment system is needed to restore drinking water to all water collection points in the village, the radio station reported.
“Reverse osmosis systems are quite energy-intensive systems and their filters are very expensive to replace,” said Brian Lefferts, director of environmental health and technology at YKHC of the whole system. “
The village will have to wait a few years for a permanent structure to be in place, but funding has been secured, the radio station reported.
The Indian health service announced last month that it would provide the bulk of the nearly $ 7 million replacement drinking water system.
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