Contaminated Groundwater in Alaska

Contaminants from sources such as releases from dry cleaners, industrial facilities, and Department of Defense activities can enter the environment and seep into the  groundwater  - and subsequently, local water supplies. Contamination may extend to neighboring properties and beyond the source, in what we call a groundwater plume. Some contaminants are projected to remain in the groundwater for many years and pose many risks to human and environmental health.

People can, and do, live safely in areas where the groundwater is contaminated by natural as well as man-made processes. For instance, arsenic occurs in many areas around Fairbanks, making well water unsafe to drink. Sulfur, iron, and other elements in the soil can give the groundwater an unpleasant taste.

You can safely live in an area with groundwater contamination through  exposure prevention  and  understanding risks .

The first step to taking preventative action is to get familiar with your area. The DEC’s Contaminated Sites (CS) Program created an  interactive map of the known groundwater plumes in Alaska . This map depicts some, but not all, known areas of groundwater contamination in Alaska. The individual plume boundaries depicted are approximations based on groundwater data provided to the department and should not be considered definitive boundaries.

Use the interactive map below to explore groundwater contamination sites near you. You can use the "Find my location" function to jump to your location on the map, or you can browse manually using the navigation tools.

Feel free to click on individual groundwater plumes that indicate contaminated sites to review basic information about that site. Scroll down and click "CS Site Report" to review a much more in-depth description and history of that site in the  DEC Contaminated Sites Database .

Once you're aware of the potential points of exposure near you, the next step is to take safety precautions at home.

The possible risks from exposure to any particular contaminant vary greatly – depending on the type of contaminant and how you may encounter it. Drinking contaminated well water generally presents the biggest risk associated with groundwater contamination because public water systems are more highly regulated. Check up on your local public water system using  DEC’s Drinking Water Watch  or  EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Search for the State of Alaska .

With proper management, people can safely live and work on properties overlying groundwater contamination. Common ways in which properties may be impacted are described below, along with measures that can be taken to prevent exposure to the contaminants.

Well Water

Many properties in the Fairbanks and North Pole areas use wells drilled into the ground to provide water for drinking, cooking, showering, gardening, etc. If your well taps into contaminated groundwater, then your water supply may become contaminated. Contaminated well water may be addressed by adding a home treatment system to remove the contamination or using a different source of drinking water, such as water delivery to a tank or connection to city water, if available. In some cases, you may qualify to have a solution provided or subsidized by the responsible party.

Indoor Air

Some contaminants are able to vaporize into air. Buildings constructed above contaminated groundwater can be affected by vapors entering through their foundations. Even at low levels, these  intruding vapors  can present a risk to people who live or work in the buildings, although it should also be noted that attached garages and storing household chemicals are also common sources of indoor air pollution. If you live near a contaminated site and are concerned about your indoor air quality, please  contact  DEC. Indoor air testing may be needed to determine if vapors are present. There may be several solutions to indoor air problems. A common solution is to install a system designed to keep gases in the soil from entering the home such as systems used to treat radon. For more information, please see  DEC’s vapor intrusion web page .

Bringing Subsurface Contamination Above Ground

Digging excavations, washing cars, and watering lawns are ways to bring contamination to the surface and cause exposure. Contamination to nearby soil and streams can occur through runoff. Excavations for development and utility maintenance frequently require dewatering to lower the water table in support of the construction activity. Special permit conditions apply for dewatering conducted close to contaminated sites. If dewatering is needed within 1,500 feet of areas covered by this Groundwater Notice, please see the  DEC Division of Water's page on Excavation Dewatering  for more information.

Types of Contaminants

Because the risks of exposure vary based on the type of contaminat, it is important to get to know the common contaminants in Alaska and their associated risks. Scroll through the slides below for some quick summaries of the main contaminants, and explore DEC fact sheets for more in-depth resources.

Scroll through this StoryMap to learn more about some examples of groundwater contamination sites in Alaska. Click on the title of each site to zoom to the plume location on the map. The Site Summary buttons will take you to the DEC website where more detailed summaries of each site are available.