Bear Claw Subd, WA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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 Bear Claw Subd
Bear Claw Subd serves about 65 people through 26 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Bonner County, Washington. EPA system ID: ID1090231; phone on file: 509-418-9186. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2021 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bear Claw Subd is 2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Bear Claw Subd's 1 ppb sits at the 47th percentile in Washington and the 51st nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
1 other system shares Bonner County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bear Claw Subd. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Dufort Water Association | 216 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Spokane, WA 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 Bear Claw Subd 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.