Alpha, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.8 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Alpha at a glance
Alpha serves about 198 people through 129 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Iron County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0000180; phone on file: 906-828-4209. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Alpha is 1.8 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.8 ppb |
How Alpha compares
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Alpha's 1.8 ppb sits at the 59th percentile in Michigan and the 67th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
14 other systems share Iron County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Alpha. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Iron River | 3,019 | 1.7 ppb |
| Crystal Falls | 1,922 | 1.1 ppb |
| Caspian | 997 | 2 ppb |
| Crystal Falls Township - Lind | 990 | 1.8 ppb |
| Bates Township | 921 | - |
| Stambaugh Township-West Brule | 580 | - |
| Iron River Township-Beechwood | 440 | 1.4 ppb |
| Gaastra | 376 | 1.4 ppb |
| Hematite Township | 350 | 2 ppb |
| Crystal Falls Twp - Townline | 350 | 9 ppb |
Next steps for Alpha, MI
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Alpha, MI may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Alpha whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.