KCAW Photo
Homes in Port Alexander are getting new water faucets this month. It’s part of an effort to minimize lead contamination in the community’s residential drinking water.
Cindy Christian manages the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Drinking Water program. She said samples from both 2011 and 2012 showed lead levels in a few Port Alexander homes exceeded the “action level” set by the state.
“And that means if you exceed the 15 parts per billion, that you have to do something,” explained Christian.
Lead doesn’t usually contaminate water at the source. More often it leaches from lead-lined pipes or faucets, so Christian says Port Alexander had two options– either to replace older faucets or start corrosion control.
“Corrosive water means that it can leach these chemicals out of the pipes,” Christian explained, “and so corrosion control is usually a chemical that is added, like orthophosphate or soda ash, that can raise the pH of the water so it’s not so corrosive.”
But, Christian said, Port Alexander didn’t have the funds needed to implement corrosion control.
“For the bigger systems like Anchorage or Sitka or Ketchikan, you have a lot of people paying their water bills and so you can take that money and pay your operators and you can buy the chemicals and everything that you need,” said Christian. “It’s just not the reality in our smaller communities in Alaska.”
The DEC notified residents of Port Alexander in 2011 and 2012, but since the funds weren’t there, Christian said no further action was taken.
One home remedy for lowering lead levels is to flush the line, leaving the tap running for a minute or two in the morning. That’s doesn’t fix the problem, though, and when the community was tested again this year the DEC again found unsafe lead levels in a few homes.
“That’s when we decided that the faucet replacement for each one of the homes there would be our best option,” said Christian.
Christian said the DEC sought funding help from the EPA. She expects the kitchen faucets for Port Alexander’s ten homes to be installed by the end of this month.
