Nsbu - Nuiqsut, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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 Nsbu - Nuiqsut
Nsbu - Nuiqsut serves about 443 people through 141 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a Native American tribe and draws surface water, in North Slope Borough County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2320264. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Nsbu - Nuiqsut's lead record
That is up 5 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Nsbu - Nuiqsut is 5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 1.4 ppb |
How Nsbu - Nuiqsut compares
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. Nsbu - Nuiqsut's 5 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Alaska and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in North Slope Borough County
8 other systems share North Slope Borough County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Nsbu - Nuiqsut. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Barrow Utilities & Elec. Coop., Inc. (Bu | 4,900 | 0 (not detected) |
| Nsbu - Point Hope | 881 | 0 (not detected) |
| The Water Service | 638 | - |
| Nsbu - Wainwright | 600 | 0.7 ppb |
| Nsbu - Anaktuvuk Pass | 350 | 0.33 ppb |
| Nsbu - Kaktovik (Barter Is) | 292 | 1.8 ppb |
| Nsbu - Atqasuk | 284 | 0.41 ppb |
| Nsbu - Point Lay | 237 | 1.4 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Wainwright, 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 Nsbu - Nuiqsut 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.