Old Harbor, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 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.
About Old Harbor
Old Harbor serves about 246 people through 99 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 Kodiak Island Borough County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2250061; phone on file: 907-286-2204. 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 down 7 ppb from 12 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Old Harbor is 12 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 ppb |
| 2025 | 12 ppb over 10 |
| 2025 | 5.5 ppb |
| 2024 | 10 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.9 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.05 ppb |
| 2021 | 2.9 ppb |
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. Old Harbor's 5 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Alaska and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
7 other systems share Kodiak Island Borough County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Old Harbor. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kodiak Water System | 9,547 | 3.9 ppb |
| Uscg Station Kodiak | 3,092 | 1.37 ppb |
| Larsen Bay Water System | 271 | 1.2 ppb |
| Port Lions | 175 | 6.1 ppb |
| Ouzinkie Water System | 144 | 2.7 ppb |
| Akhiok | 90 | 4.8 ppb |
| Karluk Water System | 60 | 0.31 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Old Harbor, 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 Old Harbor whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1600 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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.