Whittier Water System, AK
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.69 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
Whittier Water System serves about 650 people through 65 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Valdez-Cordova Census Area County, Alaska. EPA system ID: AK2211952; phone on file: 907-240-2019. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is down 3.84 ppb from 5.53 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Whittier Water System is 5.53 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.69 ppb |
| 2022 | 5.53 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.34 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. Whittier Water System's 1.69 ppb sits at the 51st percentile in Alaska and the 66th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
17 other systems share Valdez-Cordova Census Area County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Whittier Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Valdez Water System - Main | 4,500 | 4.7 ppb |
| Cordova City Water | 2,700 | 6 ppb |
| Valdez Southcentral | 675 | 0 (not detected) |
| Valdez Robe River S/D | 464 | 1.12 ppb |
| Glennallen Water Works | 365 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kenny Lake Community Well | 236 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kenny Lake Fire Hall | 200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tatitlek Water System | 95 | 2.3 ppb |
| Mentasta Washeteria/14 Plex | 90 | 1 ppb |
| Tezdlende Estates And Watering Point | 75 | 0.15 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Whittier, 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 Whittier 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.