Anchorage water utility pulls a well after PFAS tests exceed a proposed standard

The Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility has taken a groundwater well out of service after tests found PFAS, or "forever chemicals," above what the utility calls a proposed drinking-water standard, according to its 2026 budget.

AWWU serves about 225,000 people. Most of their water comes from the Eklutna Water Treatment Facility, which supplies about 92 percent of the water for the Anchorage Bowl and Eagle River. Tests of the utility's surface-water treatment plants have not detected PFAS, the budget says.

Tests of AWWU's high-production wells found measurable PFAS in three Anchorage Bowl wells. Two were below the proposed standard. The utility put management controls on all three and is looking at treatment to remove the chemicals. The budget does not say when the tests were done or when the well was pulled.

The finding was first reported Aug. 28, alongside AWWU's request for $4 million in emergency water-system contracts.

Federal limits adopted in April 2024 set 4 parts per trillion for the PFAS chemicals PFOA and PFOS, and 10 parts per trillion for three others, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Water systems must finish initial testing by 2027 and bring levels under the limits by 2029. In May, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed letting systems ask for until 2031 to meet the PFOA and PFOS limits.