Altus Afb, OK
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2022-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Altus Afb serves about 4,617 people through 787 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is federally owned and draws surface water, in Jackson County, Oklahoma. EPA system ID: OK3003303; phone on file: 580-481-5494. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2021 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Altus Afb is 0 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Oklahoma systems
Of the 870 Oklahoma systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.81 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 66 have gone over at some point. Altus Afb's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 39th percentile in Oklahoma and the 34th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
10 other systems share Jackson County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Altus Afb. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Altus | 18,717 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jackson Co Water Corp | 2,662 | 2.4 ppb |
| Blair Public Works Authority | 894 | 2.19 ppb |
| Olustee Public Works Authority | 607 | 0 (not detected) |
| Eldorado | 446 | 0 (not detected) |
| Duke Public Water Authority | 425 | 0 (not detected) |
| Duke Central Vue Water | 318 | 1.68 ppb |
| Creta Water Corporation | 230 | 0.91 ppb |
| Martha | 205 | 2.8 ppb |
| Headrick | 84 | 2.17 ppb |
Your move
Look up your address in Altus Afb's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Altus Afb 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.