Bluff City Water Department, TN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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.
Bluff City Water Department at a glance
Bluff City Water Department serves about 2,763 people through 1,186 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 surface water, in Sullivan County, Tennessee. EPA system ID: TN0000061; phone on file: 423-538-7144. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bluff City Water Department is 6.58 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.22 ppb |
| 2016 | 6.58 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 453 Tennessee systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 10 have gone over at some point. Bluff City Water Department's 1 ppb sits at the 36th percentile in Tennessee and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
7 other systems share Sullivan County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bluff City Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kingsport Water Dept | 107,739 | 1 ppb |
| Bristol Dept Of Utilities | 37,648 | 1 ppb |
| Blountville Utility District | 15,647 | 1 ppb |
| Bloomingdale Utility District | 13,318 | 1 ppb |
| South Fork Utility District | 10,229 | 1.5 ppb |
| Bristol-Bluff City U.D. | 6,268 | 1 ppb |
| Intermont Utility District | 1,848 | 1.5 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bluff City, TN 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 Bluff City Water Department 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.