Nunam Iqua Water System, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.5 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2028). 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 Nunam Iqua Water System
Nunam Iqua Water System serves about 213 people through 58 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 Bethel Census Area County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2270207; phone on file: 907-498-4226. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Nunam Iqua Water System's lead record
That is up 1.6 ppb from 1.9 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Nunam Iqua Water System is 3.5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2028 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
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. Nunam Iqua Water System's 3.5 ppb sits at the 77th percentile in Alaska and the 85th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
34 other systems share Bethel Census Area County; 16 of them have a higher latest lead result than Nunam Iqua 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 |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Nunam Iqua, 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 Nunam Iqua 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.