Bow Valley Water Works, NE
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
Bow Valley Water Works at a glance
Bow Valley Water Works serves about 120 people through 45 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Cedar County, Nebraska. EPA system ID: NE3120443; phone on file: 402-254-6444. 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 2021 (3.26 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bow Valley Water Works is 3.26 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.26 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.25 ppb |
How Bow Valley Water Works compares
Of the 576 Nebraska systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.55 ppb; 7 are over 15 ppb right now and 29 have gone over at some point. Bow Valley Water Works's 3 ppb sits at the 75th percentile in Nebraska and the 81st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
11 other systems share Cedar County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bow Valley Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Cedar-Knox Rural Water Project | 2,500 | 0.65 ppb |
| Hartington, City Of | 1,499 | 1.4 ppb |
| Laurel, City Of | 972 | 4.92 ppb |
| Randolph, City Of | 944 | 2 ppb |
| Coleridge, Village Of | 533 | 2.39 ppb |
| Wynot, Village Of | 220 | 0 (not detected) |
| Fordyce, Village Of | 135 | 1.8 ppb |
| Belden, Village Of | 112 | 4.72 ppb |
| St Helena, Village Of | 89 | - |
| Obert, Village Of | 58 | - |
Next steps for Bow Valley, NE
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bow Valley, NE 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 Bow Valley Water Works 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.