Altoona Water Supply, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5.6 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
Altoona Water Supply serves about 22,436 people through 6,692 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Polk County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA7707030; phone on file: 515-967-4464. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Altoona Water Supply's lead record
That is up 5.6 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Altoona Water Supply is 5.6 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.4 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Altoona Water Supply's 5.6 ppb sits at the 90th percentile in Iowa and the 92nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Polk County
34 other systems share Polk County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Altoona Water Supply. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines Water Works | 246,055 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ankeny, City Of | 76,207 | 0 (not detected) |
| Urbandale Water Utility | 45,605 | 0 (not detected) |
| Johnston Municipal Water Supply | 24,897 | 0 (not detected) |
| Clive Water Department | 20,277 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grimes Water Supply | 17,997 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bondurant Muni Water Supply | 9,393 | 1.3 ppb |
| Southeast Polk Rwd | 7,565 | 0 (not detected) |
| Polk City Water Supply | 6,533 | 1.3 ppb |
| Mitchellville Water Supply | 2,515 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Altoona, IA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Altoona, IA 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 Altoona Water Supply 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.