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2025 World Environmental & Water Resources Congress

Anchorage, Alaska | –

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Anchorage, Alaska

If you've never been to Alaska, it's time to "check one off your bucket list," as the EWRI Congress 2025 is heading to the Pacific Northwest!  

Anchorage's Water: Where Quality Is Clear 

[Source:  Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility website]

Here on the edge of the Alaskan wilderness, we enjoy sharing with our customers some of the best water resources in the world. Anchorage's water comes to us from pristine watersheds high in the Chugach Mountains, surrounded by the protected lands of Chugach State Park. 

The protected wilderness of the park ensures that source waters are virtually free of contamination and Ship Creek, generates nearly 90 percent of Anchorage's public water supply from snowmelt and glacier runoff. The remainder is drawn from wells tapping deep underground aquifers.

Our surface water sources contain naturally occurring particles suspended in the water from soil or bedrock from the grinding action of Eklutna Glacier. At the Eklutna and Ship Creek water plants, sophisticated technology is used to remove that particulate matter through a series of treatment processes including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration. Then the water is provided with hypochlorite disinfectant to ensure that no bacteria or pathogenic microbes can survive in the 850 miles of water distribution system pipelines. Anchorage Municipal Code requires the Utility to add fluoride to promote healthy teeth throughout Anchorage. Municipal well water does not require treatment for particulate removal, but hypochlorite is added as a disinfectant.

Water flows from the plants through large-diameter transmission mains to local neighborhood distribution mains to individual service lines of over 55,000 customers. Over 50 million gallons of storage are available in reservoirs strategically located around the city, in addition to booster pumps and pressure regulating valves to ensure pressures and flows are appropriate throughout the system for all of our customers.

2023 Drinking Water Production

The latest annual water production statistics are provided below:

  • Eklutna Water Treatment Facility - 7.76 billion gallons, 93 percent of total production
  • Anchorage & Eagle River Well Production - 318.3 million gallons, 7 percent of total production
  • Girdwood Well Production - 119.1 million gallons

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