Arsenic is worth checking in Anchorage Municipality wells.
1 worth checking, 1 rare out of 2 health checks.
From 7,169 wells tested in Anchorage Municipality since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
1 in 11 people 26,054 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Deep wells: fewer surface germs, more minerals from the rock.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Anchorage Municipality compares with Alaska and the counties around it.
Each result puts Anchorage Municipality next to the 3 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is worth checking in Anchorage Municipality.
Arsenic361 of 6,084 wells over
This one is rare in Anchorage Municipality.
Nitrate105 of 7,165 wells over
Too few tested to show: Chugach, Kenai Peninsula.
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from Anchorage Municipality wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
About 3 in 10 of the 7,169 wells tested in Anchorage Municipality have a test from 2020 or later.
With 2,390 wells tested since 2020, age matters less here than who did the testing and why.
Most Anchorage Municipality wells in these records were tested for research or because someone suspected a problem, which can push the shares above what a typical home well would show (how we read the numbers).
One mail-in lab test covers the 3 things to check in Anchorage Municipality.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
What Alaska offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Alaska. Alaska's private well page
- Certified labsAlaska's list of certified labs
- Well recordsAlaska's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 152 feet.
That comes from 385 household wells in Alaska's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 100 to 263 feet deep. Wells as deep as Anchorage Municipality's are usually better protected from fertilizer and bacteria at the surface, but they can pick up more of what's in the rock, like arsenic and uranium. That's the deepest typical depth for household wells among the 5 Alaska counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Alaska's well record search, or see how to find it.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Anchorage Municipality.
Anchorage Municipality is in the EPA's lowest radon zone, so radon from well water is unlikely to be a problem. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 5 town water systems in Anchorage Municipality test for PFAS. 1 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 9.1 ng/L of PFOA. No well in Anchorage Municipality has public PFAS results, so the town systems are the best clue to what's in the groundwater nearby. PFAS guide
Radon zones: EPA Map of Radon Zones. PFAS: EPA tests of town water systems, 2023 to 2025
Questions people ask about well water in Anchorage Municipality
Is well water in Anchorage Municipality safe to drink?
361 of 6,084 wells tested in Anchorage Municipality had arsenic over the limit, about 1 in 17. Across Alaska it's about 1 in 17. So test your own well for arsenic before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Anchorage Municipality?
Use a lab Alaska has certified for drinking water. Alaska's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Anchorage Municipality.
How deep are wells in Anchorage Municipality?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 152 feet. That's the deepest typical depth for household wells among the 5 Alaska counties with enough drilling records.
How does Anchorage Municipality compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: Matanuska-Susitna, the one neighbor with data, came in lower than Anchorage Municipality, at 0% against 1%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Matanuska-Susitna's 0% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Anchorage Municipality?
Anchorage Municipality has no public bacteria results for wells, so follow the CDC's advice: test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.
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Where the Anchorage Municipality numbers come from
- People on wells: 26,054 in Anchorage Municipality, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 21,931 well water samples from 7,169 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2025.
- Well depths: 385 Alaska drilling records for Anchorage Municipality, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 3 counties that share a border with Anchorage Municipality, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 5 town water systems in Anchorage Municipality under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Anchorage Municipality is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Conservation, checked November 1, 2026.