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            The City of Kodiak's ultra violet secondary drinking water treatment equipment is up and running. Floyd Damron of the engineering firm CH2M Hill gave city council members an overview of the work on Tuesday night. Kodiak's water is not filtered, and its primary treatment is with chlorine. However, as Damron says, that is not enough to make it safe from certain pathogens.

-- (UV Water 1           40 sec              "The unique thing about cryptosporidium ... you won't get sick.")

            Conversely, ingesting just four or five of the microscopic protozoa can cause severe gastric discomfort, and for those with compromised immune systems, it can be fatal. Damron added that the UV lamps also treat giardia (GEE-ar'dee'ah), otherwise known as "beaver fever."

            He said the Kodiak project, which required constructing a new treatment building and installing some high-tech equipment, went extremely well:

-- (UV Water 2           11 sec              "Construction began approximately ... terms of successful projects.")

            He indicated that the timing of the project, which coincided with the downturn in the global economy, worked to Kodiak's favor:

-- (UV Water 3           33 sec              "We had eight bidders ... as much capacity as Kodiak's.")

            The total cost of the project was about $6.6-million.

            Though the UV "reactors" are up and running, the system has yet to be certified by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and some site work remains to be done.

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