An Alaska water system logged the EPA's most urgent violation

A public water system serving 771 people logged the Environmental Protection Agency's most urgent class of drinking-water violation on March 1. The federal record does not say which community it serves.

Tier 1 is the level EPA uses when a violation could pose an immediate health risk. Federal rules give suppliers 24 hours to notify their customers.

The system appears in the Safe Drinking Water Information System only as AK2110643. The snapshot does not name the community, identify the contaminant in plain terms, or say whether customers were told.

Five other Alaska systems recorded Tier 2 health-based treatment-technique violations between March 2 and March 28. They serve 508, 311, 150, 46 and 40 people. Tier 2 notification timelines are longer than 24 hours.

Most other entries in the dataset are monitoring or reporting lapses rather than health violations.

EPA acknowledges the database contains inaccuracies and underreporting.