Buell-Red Prairie Wd, OR
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 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. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Buell-Red Prairie Wd serves about 800 people through 320 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 Polk County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4101174; phone on file: 503-843-2885. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 3.5 ppb from 4.8 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Buell-Red Prairie Wd is 88 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2024 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2023 | 4.3 ppb |
| 2023 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 88 ppb over 15 |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 88 ppb over 15 |
| 2019 | 3.6 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.6 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.4 ppb |
How Buell-Red Prairie Wd compares
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Buell-Red Prairie Wd's 1.3 ppb sits at the 58th percentile in Oregon and the 60th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Polk County
11 other systems share Polk County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Buell-Red Prairie Wd. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas, City Of | 17,911 | 4.3 ppb |
| Monmouth, City Of | 11,651 | 0 (not detected) |
| Independence Water System | 10,300 | 3 ppb |
| Luckiamute Domestic Water Coop | 2,738 | 1.2 ppb |
| Perrydale Domestic Wtr Assn | 2,655 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grand Ronde Community Wtr Assn | 2,500 | 2.3 ppb |
| Rickreall Water Association | 1,650 | 0 (not detected) |
| Falls City, City Of | 1,051 | 1.3 ppb |
| Orchard Heights Water Assn | 381 | 1.5 ppb |
| Rock Creek Water District | 300 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Sheridan, OR
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sheridan, OR 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 Buell-Red Prairie Wd 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.