Ketchikan Public Utilities Hypochlorite Release
- Location
- Ketchikan Public Utilities drinking water treatment plant on Ketchikan Creek, approximately one half mile upstream from tidewater.
- Time/Date
- 6/25/2005, approximately 7:00 p.m
- Spill Id
- 05119917601
- Product/ Quantity
- Between 24 and 28 gallons of sodium hypochlorite solution was released into the creek. The amount of product spilled was determined by the staff at the water treatment plant. Sodium hypochlorite is the chemical in chlorine bleach. It is used to disinfect drinking water supplies and to treat waste water before it is released into the environment. The concentration of the solution leaving the drain pipe was 0.8 ppm. Concentrations in excess of 0.1 ppm can be lethal to fish.
- Cause
- A PVC pipe ruptured due to a metering pump malfunction.
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