PORT ANGELES — A public hearing will be held but has not yet been scheduled in the wake of a request from residents concerned about the interaction of the city’s newly fluoridated water with chemicals to be used in water treatment plants.
“We want this issue — combination of aluminum salts and fluoride in the same water — to be considered further,” said Eloise Kailin, a retired physician who lives in Blyn.
County Planning Manager Steve Gray said the county received a request for the public hearing, which is allowed under the State Environmental Policy Act, within 30 days of issuing its decision.
Under the State Environmental Policy Act, if 50 people submit a petition on a SEPA determination, then a public hearing must be held.
Gray said the petition was received Wednesday and the county hasn’t scheduled a public hearing yet.
Kailin has been a longtime opponent of Port Angeles’ water fluoridation project.
“If it’s done now there is still time to design the water treatment plant for alternatives to aluminum salts in sediment removal, such as a larger settling basin or sand filters,” she added.
The two water treatment plants are being built for the city by the federal government as part of the Elwha River dams removal project.
