Benton, IL
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2026-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Benton serves about 8,104 people through 3,581 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 Franklin County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL0550050; phone on file: 618-439-6131. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Benton is 0 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
How Benton compares
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. Benton's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 50th percentile in Illinois and the 36th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
20 other systems share Franklin County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Benton. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| West Frankfort | 8,650 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rend Lake Inter-City Water System | 3,650 | 0 (not detected) |
| Christopher | 3,072 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sesser | 2,556 | 3.27 ppb |
| Greenwood-Creek Nation Water Company | 2,530 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ewing-Ina Water Commission | 2,393 | 0 (not detected) |
| Akin Water District | 2,368 | 0 (not detected) |
| Zeigler | 1,774 | 0 (not detected) |
| Valier | 1,182 | 0 (not detected) |
| Royalton | 1,118 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Benton, IL
Look up your address in Benton's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Benton 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.