Kaktovik under a do-not-drink notice after ethylene glycol found

Kaktovik residents cannot drink, cook with or brush their teeth with the village's tap water after lab testing found ethylene glycol in the community water system, the North Slope Borough said Saturday. Boiling it does not make it safe.

Ethylene glycol is the toxic compound in antifreeze. The do-not-drink notice took effect Sept. 5 and holds until further notice, covering drinking, cooking, ice, any beverage and brushing teeth. The borough issued it with the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, the regional tribal government, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

The water is still safe for showering, washing dishes and washing clothes, the borough said, following state guidance.

Where the ethylene glycol came from has not been established. Borough Public Works, which runs water and sewer for the North Slope villages, is testing further and looking for the source.

Emergency drinking water was set to start arriving around 9 pm Saturday, with more Sunday. Medical staff from the Arctic Slope Native Association are coming Sunday to help monitor residents' health.

The first alert, sent Saturday evening by the tribal government's emergency management office, said only that a contaminant had been found and did not name it, give a source, or point residents to safe water. The borough's fuller notice, with the ethylene glycol finding and the water deliveries, followed.

The trouble comes days after the system passed a federal review. At a borough Assembly meeting Sept. 1, Martina Hobson said the EPA had just completed its annual Kaktovik inspection and called it the borough's strongest in three years.

The borough says it will announce when testing shows the water is safe to drink again.