Marathon Petroleum Corp: Marathon Petroleum’s Anacortes refinery helps city avoid water treatment crisis

The Marathon Petroleum Anacortes refinery was recently lauded by city officials for stepping forward when a chlorine shortage threatened the local supply of clean water. An outage at a Washington chemical manufacturing facility in late June caused a shortage in the supply of sodium hypochlorite, the form of chlorine used to destroy disease-causing germs in drinking water and wastewater.

The supply chain delay prompted the city of Anacortes, Washington, to request that residents voluntarily conserve and reduce water usage to address its limited chlorine supply. Upon hearing of the situation, the team at the Anacortes refinery leveraged relationships with contractors and suppliers to help the city address the shortage by securing shipments until additional supplies were available.

“Helping our hometown during an emergency will always be our priority,” said James Tangaro, manager of the Anacortes refinery. “Our refinery team members have great relationships with a number of suppliers and contractors, such as Univar and Lynden Logistics who were able to quickly respond to the supply shortage.”

Our efforts, along with other industrial partners, city staff, and the community’s conservation efforts helped ensure the city of Anacortes received a chlorine delivery in time to replenish supplies to both the water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant.

“Thanks to our community, we reduced water usage to help extend our existing supply of chlorine, reduced the strain on the supply chain, and ensured water reserves continued to meet emergency response needs,” said Mayor Laurie Gere.

A press release from the city of Anacortes noted that the city is “beyond pleased with our community, industrial partners and staff who all worked together to avert what could have been a very serious emergency situation regarding the drinking water supply.”