Northwest Arctic Borough Water Quality

Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska has a drinking-water quality grade of F with a score of 0.3/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 431 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and live streamflow are reported separately on this page.

Northwest Arctic Borough has 431 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 17,625 measurements from 38 monitoring sites in Northwest Arctic Borough over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Not Assigned, Physical, Physical, Habitat. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.

Northwest Arctic Borough's SDWIS water quality score of 0.3/100 is lower than the Alaska state average of 19.8. The average water quality grade across Alaska is F, based on data from 22 counties with available SDWIS data.

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Northwest Arctic Borough has a water quality grade of F (0.3/100). This indicates below-average compliance with significant violations. Residents may want to consider home water filtration or independent testing. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).

Northwest Arctic Borough has 431 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.

Northwest Arctic Borough ranks #21 out of 22 counties in Alaska by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 0.3/100, it falls in the bottom third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.