Ballough Hills, NC
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2023-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Ballough Hills at a glance
Ballough Hills serves about 95 people through 39 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Jackson County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0150102; phone on file: 828-586-5588. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 4 ppb from 4 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ballough Hills is 16 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 4 ppb |
| 2016 | 16 ppb over 15 |
How Ballough Hills compares
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Ballough Hills's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 19th percentile in North Carolina and the 9th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
35 other systems share Jackson County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ballough Hills. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Western Carolina Univ Wtp | 7,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tuckaseigee Water & Sewer Auth | 7,528 | 0 (not detected) |
| Fairfield Sapphire | 3,873 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hh Water, Llc | 770 | 0 (not detected) |
| Trillium Links & Village | 610 | 0 (not detected) |
| Highlands Cove S/D | 604 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mountain Top Golf & Lake Club | 467 | 0 (not detected) |
| Wade Hampton Club | 429 | 0 (not detected) |
| Trillium Links West | 424 | 2.5 ppb |
| Bear Lake Reserve 1b | 396 | 4.9 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cullowhee, NC 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 Ballough Hills 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.