Manganese

On Friday, the City of Kotzebue issued a health advisory for manganese levels in the community’s drinking water.

“It feels as though there's a never-ending stream of problems with the water supply here,” Deb Lawton said. “We are one of the richest countries on earth, and I am gobsmacked by the fact that we cannot get our collective act together to provide drinking water to people.”

According to the city officials, Kotzebue’s water treatment plant is not “reliably and consistently” removing manganese below the maximum contamination levels.