Barnum Water Supply, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 10 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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.
Barnum Water Supply at a glance
Barnum Water Supply serves about 175 people through 77 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Webster County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA9408087; phone on file: 515-571-5070. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2020 (9 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Barnum Water Supply is 10 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 10 ppb |
| 2020 | 9 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
How Barnum Water Supply compares
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Barnum Water Supply's 10 ppb sits at the 97th percentile in Iowa and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Webster County
22 other systems share Webster County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Barnum Water Supply. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Dodge Water Supply | 25,874 | 1 ppb |
| Gowrie Muni Utilities Water Dept | 954 | 3 ppb |
| Dayton Municipal Water Supply | 772 | 0 (not detected) |
| Badger Water Supply | 561 | 1 ppb |
| Otho Water Supply | 431 | 1 ppb |
| Palace Park Mhc | 426 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lehigh Water Supply | 395 | 0 (not detected) |
| Duncombe Water Supply | 384 | 0 (not detected) |
| Callender Water Supply | 371 | 0 (not detected) |
| Harcourt Water Supply | 265 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Fort Dodge, IA 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 Barnum Water Supply 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.