35°

After years of discussion, the community opened the 5,000-square-foot plant this spring and distributed complimentary samples at last week's Founders Day festivities and potlatch.

The water should be on store shelves soon, Mayor Victor Wellington Sr. said.

The equipment has the ability to produce 3,000 bottles per hour, Semaken said. Water for the operation comes through the municipal water system, from Chester Lake on Purple Mountain, Semaken said.

"Chester Lake is very, very pure water," she said.

Proceeds from water sales will go back into the business and to the Metlakatla Indian Community, which used a $500,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to build the plant.

The tribe is still working on a name for its product and the label design is almost complete, Semaken said.

"The label will feature Tsimshian art," she said.

"We started processing the bottled water around June 13 and are just getting the system ready," said manager Trudi Refour. "We're running on a skeleton crew because we haven't gone to full production yet."

The plant was constructed so people can watch the process on an escorted tour, Semaken said. Metlakatla faced a setback in its bottled water plans in 1998 when investors from Saudi Arabia decided not to pursue a business agreement with the Metlakatla Indian Community.