Arkansas City, City Of, KS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 ppb (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. 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
Arkansas City, City Of serves about 11,929 people through 4,929 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 Cowley County, Kansas. EPA system ID: KS2003509; phone on file: 620-441-4483. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Arkansas City, City Of's lead record
That is down 2.2 ppb from 3.3 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Arkansas City, City Of is 3.3 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.3 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
How Arkansas City, City Of compares
Of the 832 Kansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 35 have gone over at some point. Arkansas City, City Of's 1.1 ppb sits at the 44th percentile in Kansas and the 57th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
14 other systems share Cowley County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Arkansas City, City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Winfield, City Of | 11,726 | 3.2 ppb |
| Cowley Co Rwd 3 | 2,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cowley Co Rwd 5 | 2,000 | 2 ppb |
| Cowley Co Rwd 1 | 1,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cowley Co Rwd 6 | 792 | 1.6 ppb |
| Udall, City Of | 658 | 1.8 ppb |
| Cowley Co Rwd 2 | 600 | 0 (not detected) |
| Burden, City Of | 514 | 1.8 ppb |
| Cowley Co Rwd 4 | 500 | 1.1 ppb |
| Cowley Co Rwd 7 | 300 | 1.3 ppb |
Next steps for Arkansas City, KS
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Arkansas City, KS 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 Arkansas City, City Of 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.