Bad Axe, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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.
About Bad Axe
Bad Axe serves about 3,129 people through 1,578 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 surface water, in Huron County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0000340; phone on file: 989-550-9088. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bad Axe is 3 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
Against other Michigan systems
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Bad Axe's 3 ppb sits at the 78th percentile in Michigan and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
18 other systems share Huron County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bad Axe. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Caseville Township | 2,005 | 2 ppb |
| Sebewaing Light & Water | 1,721 | 14 ppb |
| Harbor Beach, City Of | 1,604 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pigeon, Village Of | 1,208 | 7 ppb |
| Port Hope-Gore-Rubicon U. A. | 1,058 | 6 ppb |
| Port Austin Area Sewer & Water | 1,004 | 1.3 ppb |
| Ubly, Village Of | 858 | 1.5 ppb |
| Elkton, Village Of | 808 | 4.1 ppb |
| Caseville, City Of | 777 | - |
| Sand Beach Township | 525 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Bad Axe, MI
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bad Axe, MI 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 Bad Axe 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.