Bear Valley Joint Auth, PA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.89 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2022). 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 Valley Joint Auth
Bear Valley Joint Auth serves about 12,589 people through 4,237 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 surface water, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. EPA system ID: PA7280043; phone on file: 717-369-2821. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 3.89 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bear Valley Joint Auth is 5.4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 3.89 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 5.4 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Bear Valley Joint Auth compares
Of the 516 Pennsylvania systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 143 are over 15 ppb right now and 156 have gone over at some point. Bear Valley Joint Auth's 3.89 ppb sits at the 64th percentile in Pennsylvania and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
29 other systems share Franklin County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bear Valley Joint Auth. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Chambersburg Boro Water Sys | 31,048 | 4.7 ppb |
| Guilford Water Auth | 28,135 | 0 (not detected) |
| Boro Of Waynesboro | 13,200 | 6 ppb |
| Washington Twp Muni Auth | 6,134 | 1.84 ppb |
| Greencastle Area Water Auth | 5,500 | 5.21 ppb |
| Franklin System York Water | 4,400 | 2 ppb |
| Mercersburg Muni Water Auth | 2,350 | - |
| Mont Alto Municipal Authority | 1,705 | - |
| Antrim Township Municipal Auth | 1,149 | - |
| Zullinger Water System Wtma | 1,080 | - |
Next steps for St Thomas, PA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; St Thomas, PA 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 Valley Joint Auth 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.