The City of Unalakleet’s water situation is deteriorating.

City Manager Davida Hanson confirms that the community’s water tank level has dropped below 4 feet, which means all Unalakleet residents are on boil water notice. Hanson says that earlier Friday afternoon, the remote maintenance worker from Nome and Unalakleet staff were using an excavator to dig in one of two locations where they suspect the water leak might be.

If the source of the water leak is not found soon, Unalakleet may run out of water completely. Hanson says that if the tank dries up, the City’s backup plan is to pump water out of a point in the slough near the community where there is less brackish or salt water present.

Currently, the city is doing all they can to fix this significant water issue, as other outside entities or State departments have been unable to provide Unalakleet assistance at this time.

Image at top: file photo; public domain, via Pixabay.

Correction: an earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Unalakleet City Manager Davida Hanson. The spelling has been corrected.