A group concerned about the City of Ketchikan’s plan to start treating water with monochloramine has successfully submitted the paperwork to start collecting signatures for a ballot proposition. City Clerk Katy Suiter accepted the petition paperwork from United Citizens for Better Water on Monday morning.

If enough signatures are collected, an ordinance will be placed before voters to prohibit the city from using chloramine for public water disinfection.

The petitioners have 30 days to collect a little more than 350 valid signatures and submit the paperwork to the city clerk for review. If the petition has met all the requirements, the question should go before voters within two months, which means a special election is possible.

While not specifying a date, the city has planned to switch from chlorine to chloramine starting this spring – possibly as soon as this month. The issue isn’t on the meeting agenda, but the Ketchikan City Council likely will hear some public testimony on the topic when it meets this week.

United Citizens for Better Water has invited Bob Bowcock, who is associated with national consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, to conduct a public meeting on Wednesday, and then give a presentation to the City Council on Thursday.

Wednesday’s public meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Ted Ferry Civic Center. Click the link below to read an earlier story on this topic.

https://www.krbd.org/2014/02/05/group-opposes-citys-plan-for-chloramine-disinfection/

For more information about United Citizens for Better Water, go to:

http://saveourwater.blog.com/