Mission Beach and Mission Lake now safe for public use

Mission Lake and Mission Beach have been reopened for public use by the City of Kodiak after ongoing testing continued to show safe levels of fecal coliform, indicating the waters are safe for people and pets to be near.

Public Works Director Craig Walton said the city extended daily testing for a full week before opening the area back up to the public on Friday.

 

“It was unfortunate, but we’re back up and running and everything’s good. And all our testing came back good for us. And you know, we held on to them before opening everything back up because we wanted to make sure and double check and real cautious about it because I know it’s on everybody’s mind. So we’re doing the best we can to make sure the public is safe.”

 

Walton said his people began taking water samples immediately and set up a filter system that forced the flow of waste from the broken pipe through rocks to remove solids and to do basic filtering before the waste water went into Mission Lake.

 

City Manager Mike Tvenge said it was the biggest break in the Kodiak sewer system in recent memory. And the break was deep, as much as 28 feet or so, which required an excavator to reach that far down.

He said he was impressed with the response of all involved from city personnel to contractors to the parts people, who expedited getting needed materials necessary to fix the break.

Tvenge said he was particularly impressed with the guys in the trench who worked directly in the raw waste water to fix the break.

“You know, everyone had protective gear on. But they were down in the hole…. This is their job and they didn’t shy away from it. And I’ve got to commend them for doing that. It was really impressive.”

So, once again, the city has given the all clear for the public to use Mission Lake and Mission Beach and the areas have been reopened.