Mertarvik Water System, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.2 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
Mertarvik Water System at a glance
Mertarvik Water System serves about 170 people through 4 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a Native American tribe and draws groundwater, in Bethel Census Area County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2272756; phone on file: 907-237-6087. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2025 (0.54 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Mertarvik Water System is 0.54 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.2 ppb |
| 2025 | 0.54 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0.37 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Mertarvik Water System's 0.2 ppb sits at the 18th percentile in Alaska and the 41st nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
34 other systems share Bethel Census Area County; 31 of them have a higher latest lead result than Mertarvik Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bethel Heights Water System | 2,228 | 3.57 ppb |
| Bethel-City S/D Water | 1,660 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kwethluk New Piped Water System | 760 | 2 ppb |
| Quinhagak Water System | 724 | 0.75 ppb |
| Toksook Bay Water System | 661 | 5.6 ppb |
| Kipnuk Water System | 639 | 1 ppb |
| Akiachak Water System | 627 | 6.2 ppb |
| Kongiganak Water System | 547 | 4.5 ppb |
| Chefornak Water System | 513 | 1 ppb |
| Nunapitchuk Water System | 496 | 4.6 ppb |
Next steps for Newtok, AK
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Newtok, 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 Mertarvik 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.