Bessemer Water Service, AL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2027). 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.
Bessemer Water Service at a glance
Bessemer Water Service serves about 86,091 people through 28,699 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 Jefferson County, Alabama. EPA system ID: AL0000737; phone on file: 205-481-4333. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Bessemer Water Service's lead record
Against the period ending 2026 (1.4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bessemer Water Service is 5 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2027 | 1 ppb |
| 2026 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
Against other Alabama systems
Of the 542 Alabama systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 11 have gone over at some point. Bessemer Water Service's 1 ppb sits at the 68th percentile in Alabama and the 56th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Jefferson County
11 other systems share Jefferson County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Bessemer Water Service. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Central Alabama Water | 653,322 | 1.2 ppb |
| Warrior River Water Authority | 38,700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Trussville, Ub Of The City Of | 36,300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Leeds Water Works Board | 21,300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Irondale Water System | 10,098 | 1 ppb |
| Graysville Water Board | 9,288 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mulga Water Department | 5,991 | 1 ppb |
| West Jefferson Water System, Town Of | 3,243 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brookside Water Works | 2,865 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mpt Operating Partnership, L.P. | 250 | - |
Next steps for Bessemer, AL
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bessemer, AL 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 Bessemer Water Service 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.