Benton Pws, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.42 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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 Benton Pws
Benton Pws serves about 885 people through 393 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Scott County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO4010062. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (2.61 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Benton Pws is 3.9 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.42 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.61 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.61 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.9 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.9 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. Benton Pws's 3.42 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Missouri and the 85th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Scott County
15 other systems share Scott County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Benton Pws. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Sikeston Pws | 16,291 | 1.13 ppb |
| Scott City Pws | 4,653 | 1.25 ppb |
| Scott County Pwsd 4 | 3,150 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chaffee Pws | 3,054 | 1.17 ppb |
| Oran Pws | 1,294 | 2.71 ppb |
| Miner Pws | 1,135 | 0 (not detected) |
| Scott County Pwsd 1 | 785 | 0 (not detected) |
| Morley Pws | 699 | 1.52 ppb |
| Kelso Pws | 586 | 5.87 ppb |
| Scott County Pwsd 2 | 553 | 3.84 ppb |
Next steps for Benton, MO
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Benton, MO 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 Pws 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.