Your monitoring summary outlines your water system’s monitoring requirements. Please use this as a planning tool to help your public water system (PWS) remain in compliance with the State of Alaska Drinking Water Regulations, 18 AAC 80. Monitoring your drinking water for contaminants is very important so that your customers do not become sick. Please review your system's monitoring summary.
Have questions about your monitoring summary or sampling requirements? Contact your local Environmental Program Specialist (EPS).
To learn more about how to read your monitoring summary, visit Navigating the Monitoring Summary.
Reminders for 2025
New Regulations
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR)
All Community and Non-Transient Non-Community systems are subject to LCRR. Two of the major requirements from this rule went into effect last year (2024) as outlined below:
- Lead Action Level exceedances will now require Tier 1 Public Notice that must be delivered to consumers within 24-hours of learning of the exceedance.
- Lead Service Line Inventories (LSLI) were required to be completed in 2024. If your system has not completed an inventory, this requirement will appear in the Compliance Schedule section of your monitoring summary. For systems that have submitted an LSLI, there may be on-going requirements related to the LSLI such as completing consumer notices related to service line materials and/or additional information may be requested by DW Program as the LSLI’s are being reviewed.
For more detailed information visit the LCRR DW Program website.
Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI)
The LCRI rule was finalized in October 2024. By November 2027, Community Water Systems and Non-Transient Non-Community Water Systems will be required to meet the following provisions: lowering the Lead Action Level (AL) to 10 ppb (currently 15 ppb), requiring lead consumer notices to be completed within 3 days of results (currently 30 days) and updating Sample Plans.
To learn more about this rule visit EPA's LCRI page.
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
The PFAS rule was finalized April 2024 and includes regulatory limits (Maximum Contaminant Level and Hazard Index) for 6 PFAS contaminants. By 2027 all Community Water Systems and Non-Transient Non-Community systems will need to complete initial monitoring or use previously collected monitoring data to determine their ongoing sampling schedule.
The DW Program has been working with water systems to collect baseline PFAS samples to determine your risk and the rule’s potential impact on your system. If you are interested in sampling, please contact Cindy Christian at cindy.christian@alaska.gov or 907-451-2138 for guidance.
For information visit Drinking Water's PFAS Rule page.
Sanitary Surveys
Sanitary surveys are required as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act. In order to stay in compliance, systems must complete surveys on time and correct any deficiencies. Please review the monitoring summary to confirm when the next survey is due and what deficiencies remain unaddressed. Significant Deficiencies that need to be fixed according to the DW Program’s records are listed under the Compliance Schedules section. Remember to send documentation of how and when deficiencies have been fixed to the Drinking Water Program. If you would like to schedule a survey with the DW Program please contact the DW Program’s Sanitary Survey Section staff at DEC.sanitarysurveys@alaska.gov.
PWS owners/operators are encouraged to request a question set from the Drinking Water Program prior to a sanitary survey inspection. This provides an opportunity to review the system and fix any potential deficiencies before the inspection takes place. For more information on Sanitary Surveys, please see our Sanitary Survey webpage.
Cyber Security
Cyber-attacks against water systems are becoming more common. Now is a good time to learn about and implement cybersecurity practices that can help your utility prevent, detect, respond, and recover from cyber incidents. Be sure to review the DW Program's PWS Cybersecurity webpage for information and helpful tools like the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool.
Reminder! Community Water Systems serving greater than 3,300 individuals are subject to America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA), Section 2013 which requires emergency response planning tasks that must be certified directly to EPA. There are upcoming deadlines in 2025 and 2026 based on your population size. For more information, please see our AWIA Regulation webpage.
General Compliance Reminders
Violations are issued if a PWS fails to collect required samples, submit required reports, or resolve sanitary survey deficiencies within the appropriate timeframes. When violations are not addressed in a timely manner, this can lead to increased enforcement actions and your system may be listed on the EPA’s national Enforcement Targeting Tool (ETT). Below are some tips for staying in compliance with the regulations and avoiding violations:
- Submit the required samples according to the enclosed monitoring summary. Please use the monitoring summary as a planning tool for the year. Samples can be costly, however if you spread them out over the year, these costs can be more manageable.
- If you are required to conduct daily operator testing, please submit the proper Monthly Operator Report form for your system. Your operator report must be filled out, signed, and sent to the Drinking Water Program before the 10th of the following month. (For example, the January operator report should be sent to the Drinking Water Program by the 10th of February.)
- Lead/copper samples must be sampled from locations that meet regulatory tiering criteria, from locations regularly used for consumption, and according to your system's Lead and Copper Sampling Plan. If you have questions on where to collect lead and copper samples or do not have a current Lead and Copper Sampling Plan, contact your EPS prior to sampling.
- Do not wait until the end of the month to take your Total Coliform bacteria samples. That way if transportation, weather, or other issues arise, you have time to resample during the month.
- Take other types of samples at the beginning of a monitoring period (i.e., the first month of a quarter). This helps ensure samples are not forgotten and allows time if resampling is required. Please note: TTHM and HAA5s (DBPs) must be sampled during the specific time(s) and location(s) noted on the monitoring summary.
- Ensure samples are sent/brought to the laboratory in a cooler with ice, so the samples are cool but not frozen. Most samples must be between 0.0°C and 6.0°C when they arrive at the laboratory. Otherwise, samples cannot be accepted and will need to be collected again.
- PWS on Quarterly Total Coliform Monitoring schedule, reminder that you are required to collect 3 additional routine TC samples the month following a TC Present (TC+) sample. Ensure that you’re prepared to collect these samples by having extra sample bottles on hand.
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