Juneau's city-owned ski area has an unresolved drinking water violation

Eaglecrest Ski Area, the city-owned ski hill in Juneau, is carrying an unresolved drinking water violation in the federal government's most urgent category.

Tier 1 is the classification the EPA reserves for problems that can make people sick quickly. A system that hits one is supposed to tell the public within 24 hours. The violation dates to March, and unlike the 23 others in the system's record, it carries no return-to-compliance date. That means the database does not show it resolved, which is not the same as showing it is ongoing.

The system serves an estimated 771 people through three connections. It is classified as transient, meaning it serves people passing through rather than residents.

In the records reviewed, eight Alaska systems showed unresolved Tier 1 violations. That is what the query returned rather than a confirmed statewide count. Two of the others serve people at home: Selawik's Safewater Facility, which serves 846 residents and has been out of compliance since December, and Diomede Joint Utilities, which serves 83 and carries three unresolved violations dating to 2021.

Five more Alaska systems logged the same kind of treatment violation in March, serving between 40 and 508 people each. Those were classified Tier 2, which allows 30 days for notice rather than 24 hours.