Ashmore, IL
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
Ashmore serves about 637 people through 365 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Coles County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL0290050; phone on file: 217-349-9332. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
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 Ashmore is 6.54 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 | 6.54 ppb |
How Ashmore compares
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. Ashmore's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 24th percentile in Illinois and the 24th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
8 other systems share Coles County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ashmore. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Mattoon | 19,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Charleston | 17,286 | 3 ppb |
| Clear Water Service Corp | 8,900 | 1.1 ppb |
| Eastern Illinois University | 5,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Embarras Area Water District | 3,750 | 1.4 ppb |
| Oakland | 739 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cooks Mills Water Association | 720 | 0 (not detected) |
| Humboldt | 361 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Look up your address in Ashmore'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 Ashmore 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.