Benton Harbor, MI
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.8 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. 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.
Benton Harbor at a glance
Benton Harbor serves about 9,103 people through 3,335 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Berrien County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0000600; phone on file: 269-204-2776. 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 2024 (0.8 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Benton Harbor is 32 ppb across 13 monitoring periods, 6 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2023 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 8.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 14 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 15 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 24 ppb over 15 |
| 2020 | 24 ppb over 15 |
| 2020 | 23 ppb over 15 |
| 2019 | 32 ppb over 15 |
| 2019 | 27 ppb over 15 |
| 2018 | 22 ppb over 15 |
Against other Michigan systems
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. Benton Harbor's 0.8 ppb sits at the 41st percentile in Michigan and the 48th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
34 other systems share Berrien County; 22 of them have a higher latest lead result than Benton Harbor. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew | 26,780 | 1.1 ppb |
| Niles | 14,215 | 2 ppb |
| St Joseph | 7,930 | 4 ppb |
| Benton Charter Township | 6,768 | 0 (not detected) |
| Buchanan | 4,871 | 3 ppb |
| Lake Charter Township | 4,177 | 1.5 ppb |
| Andrews University | 3,000 | 1 ppb |
| New Buffalo Township | 2,845 | 2 ppb |
| Chikaming Township | 2,825 | 1.51 ppb |
| Watervliet | 2,735 | 0.8 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Benton Harbor, 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 Benton Harbor 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.