Apodaca Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.1 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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
Apodaca Mdwca serves about 129 people through 45 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 Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3502621; phone on file: 505-690-7076. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Apodaca Mdwca's lead record
That is up 1.4 ppb from 2.7 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Apodaca Mdwca is 5.1 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2025 | 2.7 ppb |
| 2025 | 3.8 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.8 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.6 ppb |
Against other New Mexico systems
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Apodaca Mdwca's 4.1 ppb sits at the 83rd percentile in New Mexico and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
40 other systems share Rio Arriba County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Apodaca Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Espanola Water System | 12,012 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chama Water System | 1,573 | 9.1 ppb |
| Agua Sana Wua | 1,514 | 0 (not detected) |
| El Rito Regional Water & Waste Water Asn | 1,200 | 4.1 ppb |
| Greater Chimayo Mdwca | 1,050 | 2.3 ppb |
| Alcalde Mdwca | 927 | 0.56 ppb |
| Chamita Mdwca | 902 | 0 (not detected) |
| Truchas Mdwca | 629 | 3.1 ppb |
| Velarde Mdwca | 543 | 4.1 ppb |
| Dixon Mdwca | 500 | 1.5 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dixon, NM 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 Apodaca Mdwca 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.