State puts famous Fairbanks watering hole up for sale

FAIRBANKS — The state plans to get out of the free drinking water business in Fairbanks and sell the Fox well to the adjacent property owner, the state Department of  Transportation and Public Facilities said.

The state published a legal notice Friday saying it plans to sell the two-acre site to the retired general contractor who owns the land next to the Fox well. The sales price, yet to be determined, would be set by an independent appraisal.

For many decades the water from Fox has been the Fairbanks equivalent of Perrier, minus the carbonation.

The site is about 11 miles from Fairbanks, but people have long driven from many miles farther to fill water jugs and water bottles, dedicated believers in the wonders of free Fox water.

While the water source is popularly known as the "Fox spring" in Fairbanks, the spring went dry long ago and the state hired a contractor to drill a well, which is less than 30 feet deep.

The water level has dropped and the state predicts the well will go dry at some point. Water quality is a chancy proposition in the Fairbanks area and there is no guarantee that a deeper well would provide good water.

When it was still a spring, the consensus in Fairbanks held that it was the purest water in Alaska, far superior to anything from a tap. That mystique remains.

The state estimates it spends about $50,000 a year to maintain the site — more in years when equipment has to be repaired or replaced.

Patrick Kohls, owner of Pewter LLC, wants to buy the land bordering his property and hopes that a way can be found so that those who use the well can continue to do so.

He said that the shallow well, which produces about eight gallons a minute, is not a commercial prospect and he has no intention of trying to make money off this.

He had figured at first that putting up a collection box to offset maintenance costs would be an option, but said his accountant informed him that the tax consequences would make that unwise.

As an interim step, he said, he is willing to keep the well open until users come up with a plan.

There have been numerous efforts over the years, blocked by Fairbanks legislators, to have the transportation department stop maintaining the well. Budget cuts led to the most recent shutdown plans and the borough government rejected plans to take it over.

Public comments on the sale plan, due by Aug. 10, can be sent to evan.rainey@alaska.gov.