Blackwood, VA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 9.9 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. 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.
Blackwood at a glance
Blackwood serves about 194 people through 79 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Roanoke County, Virginia. EPA system ID: VA2161046. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
That is up 9.9 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Blackwood is 9.9 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 9.9 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Virginia systems
Of the 996 Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 59 have gone over at some point. Blackwood's 9.9 ppb sits at the 98th percentile in Virginia and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
4 other systems share Roanoke County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Blackwood. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Catawba Hospital | 444 | 0 (not detected) |
| Martin Creek | 391 | 0 (not detected) |
| Yellow Mountain Village | 196 | 1.4 ppb |
| Carolina Village | 50 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Roanoke, VA 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 Blackwood 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.