Kotlik Water System, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
About Kotlik Water System
Kotlik Water System serves about 617 people through 152 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a Native American tribe and draws surface water, in Wade Hampton Census Area County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2272004; phone on file: 907-729-3661. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.3 ppb from 0.7 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Kotlik Water System is 2.4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Alaska systems
Of the 394 Alaska systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.6 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 53 have gone over at some point. Kotlik Water System's 2 ppb sits at the 58th percentile in Alaska and the 71st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Wade Hampton Census Area County
11 other systems share Wade Hampton Census Area County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Kotlik Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Hooper Bay | 1,375 | 1.4 ppb |
| Chevak Water System | 938 | 4.9 ppb |
| Mountain Village Water System | 887 | 1.47 ppb |
| Emmonak Water System | 820 | 0.94 ppb |
| Scammon Bay Water System | 637 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pilot Station Water System | 580 | 4.8 ppb |
| Alakanuk Water System | 570 | 1.8 ppb |
| St. Marys Water System | 548 | 0 (not detected) |
| Russian Mission Water System | 340 | 1.1 ppb |
| Marshall Water System | 308 | 1.2 ppb |
Next steps for Anchorage, AK
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Anchorage, AK may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Kotlik Water System whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.