Altus, 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.
Altus at a glance
Altus serves about 18,717 people through 9,415 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 surface water, in Jackson County, Oklahoma. EPA system ID: OK1011501; phone on file: 580-481-2270. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2024 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Altus is 5.2 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 5.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.2 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 42nd percentile in Oklahoma and the 38th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Jackson County
10 other systems share Jackson County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Altus. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Altus Afb | 4,617 | 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 |
Next steps for Altus, OK
Look up your address in Altus'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 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.