Appleton Waterworks, WI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
Appleton Waterworks at a glance
Appleton Waterworks serves about 74,511 people through 25,221 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 Outagamie County, Wisconsin. EPA system ID: WI4450333. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2024 (0.97 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Appleton Waterworks is 11 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.97 ppb |
| 2020 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2017 | 5.9 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 947 Wisconsin systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.33 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Appleton Waterworks's 1.3 ppb sits at the 50th percentile in Wisconsin and the 61st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
18 other systems share Outagamie County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than Appleton Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Chute Tn San Dist 1 | 21,583 | 3.1 ppb |
| Kaukauna Utilities | 17,493 | 2.4 ppb |
| Darboy Sanitary Dist 1 | 13,024 | 0.47 ppb |
| Little Chute Waterworks | 12,168 | 8.6 ppb |
| Greenville Utilities Vil Of | 11,340 | 7.5 ppb |
| Kimberly Waterworks | 7,608 | 13 ppb |
| Combined Locks Waterworks | 3,609 | 0 (not detected) |
| Seymour Waterworks | 3,601 | 1.7 ppb |
| Freedom Sanitary District | 3,260 | 1.5 ppb |
| Hortonville Water Utility | 3,028 | 2.7 ppb |
Next steps for Appleton, WI
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Appleton, WI 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 Appleton Waterworks 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.