Juneau moving forward with A-J Mine-related water project
On Monday, at 7:00pm the CBJ Assembly will consider a resolution to adopt the Draft Municipal Drinking Water Supply Plan and begin planning and design of a filtration system for a Salmon Creek treatment system. The documents are available at: http://www.juneau.org/assembly/COW/2012-06-11-COW_index.php.
The Draft Plan is only 4 pages long and does not contain any estimates of what it will cost the Juneau taxpayer or where the funds will come from. These costs could be as high as $20 million. The Plan is incomplete and cursory.
This Plan is in response to the steps the Assembly has taken to promote the development of the AJ Mine without putting this matter to a vote of the citizens. The Assembly has only considered a hypothetical mine plan that may not be technically feasible, and certainly will be substantially different than any final mine plan. Based on this imaginary mine, the CBJ produced a Drinking Water System Study that is still in draft form and does not include any response to the comments CBJ solicited from citizens.
Furthermore:
- Salmon Creek as another water source may be inadequate due to uncertainties about the 100 year-old dam’s structural integrity and lack of capacity for any community growth.
- This Plan does not include any direction for extending the life of the Last Chance Basin well field that has been described as “reaching the end of their useful life” by the Utility Advisory Board.
- The Plan ignores the existing watershed plans for both Gold and Salmon Creeks.
If you are unable to attend and voice concerns, the Assembly can be contacted at: Borough_Assembly@ci.juneau.ak.us
