Carnes Water Association, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Carnes Water Association serves about 1,160 people through 475 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Forrest County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0180003; phone on file: 601-716-3270. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2023 (0.8 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Carnes Water Association is 1.1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 0.7 ppb |
Against other Mississippi systems
Of the 973 Mississippi systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 44 have gone over at some point. Carnes Water Association's 1.1 ppb sits at the 54th percentile in Mississippi and the 57th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Forrest County
11 other systems share Forrest County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Carnes Water Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Hattiesburg | 43,449 | 10.4 ppb |
| City Of Petal | 9,509 | 0 (not detected) |
| Barrontown W/A | 7,999 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sunrise Utility Assn Inc | 6,067 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dixie Community Utility Assn. | 5,840 | 1.5 ppb |
| Glendale Utility District | 4,477 | 1.3 ppb |
| Rawls Springs Utility District | 3,168 | 2.1 ppb |
| Eastabuchie Water Association | 2,363 | 2.99 ppb |
| Brooklyn Water Association | 1,901 | 8.8 ppb |
| S Ms Public Water Auth-Mclaurin | 905 | 16.9 ppb |
Next steps for Wiggins, MS
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Wiggins, MS 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 Carnes Water Association 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.