Battle Creek - Verona System, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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 Battle Creek - Verona System
Battle Creek - Verona System serves about 43,975 people through 17,593 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 Calhoun County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0000450. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Battle Creek - Verona System's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Battle Creek - Verona System is 4 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 3 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Battle Creek - Verona System's 2 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in Michigan and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Calhoun County
16 other systems share Calhoun County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Battle Creek - Verona System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Albion | 9,144 | 1 ppb |
| Marshall | 7,088 | 2 ppb |
| Pennfield Township | 3,916 | 1.6 ppb |
| Springfield | 3,833 | 0 (not detected) |
| Emmett Township | 2,550 | 0 (not detected) |
| Homer | 1,668 | - |
| Athens | 956 | - |
| Bedford Hills | 850 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tekonsha | 722 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hickory Hills | 708 | 2.13 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Battle Creek, 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 Battle Creek - Verona System 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.