Black River Falls Waterworks, WI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.3 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). 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.
Who runs the water here
Black River Falls Waterworks serves about 3,608 people through 1,650 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 groundwater, in Jackson County, Wisconsin. EPA system ID: WI6270244. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.48 ppb from 0.82 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Black River Falls Waterworks is 2.7 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.82 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.7 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 947 Wisconsin systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.33 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Black River Falls Waterworks's 2.3 ppb sits at the 67th percentile in Wisconsin and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
10 other systems share Jackson County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Black River Falls Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Brockway Sanitary Dist 1 | 2,692 | 0.77 ppb |
| Merrillan Waterworks | 531 | 0 (not detected) |
| Melrose Waterworks | 524 | 0 (not detected) |
| Taylor Waterworks | 498 | 0 (not detected) |
| Alma Center Waterworks | 487 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hixton Waterworks | 443 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black River Correctional Center | 163 | 4.85 ppb |
| Blue Spruce Mobile Home Community | 80 | 0 (not detected) |
| Northern Family Farms Mexicali Housing Well | 60 | 0.23 ppb |
| Northfield San Dist 1 | 50 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Black River Falls, WI 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 Black River Falls Waterworks 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.