"sewage"

The city has spent tens of millions of dollars over the last 12 years on various disposal methods for its treated sewage.

The City and Borough of Juneau has a lot of promises to keep with environmental regulators after racking up dozens of pollution violations at its two main sewage treatment plants.

The Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Plant serves roughly 20,000 people, but it’s producing sewage experts would expect from about 50,000.

Juneau is the only regular cruise ship stop in Alaska that offers wastewater service to ships in port.

Instead of paying $11 million to hire an outside company to clean just a portion of the city’s pipes, the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility invested $2.6 million in the equipment to do the job itself.

Typically, when a contaminated site is discovered it’s up to the landowner — or the person responsible for making the mess — to clean it up. But there are dozens of sites where this process has broken down.

What happens when we flush? Here’s why Sitka officials are pitching a multimillion-dollar revitalization project for the city’s nearly 40-year-old wastewater facility.

Most of us have never lived with without running water at home. Today, we’ll learn about some who are just getting used to it, and others who are still waiting for it.

“I don’t know that I have any good news for you in all this,” City Engineering Director Rorie Watt told the Assembly on Monday.

Juneau’s processed poop is going to start piling up come Jan. 1, unless a new disposal arrangement comes together soon.