Carters Lake Estates, GA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.7 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
Carters Lake Estates at a glance
Carters Lake Estates serves about 148 people through 57 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Gilmer County, Georgia. EPA system ID: GA1230074; phone on file: 312-636-7988. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Carters Lake Estates's lead record
Against the period ending 2025 (0.8 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Carters Lake Estates is 18 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2025 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 18 ppb over 15 |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Georgia systems
Of the 1,681 Georgia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.68 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 131 have gone over at some point. Carters Lake Estates's 0.7 ppb sits at the 51st percentile in Georgia and the 46th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
13 other systems share Gilmer County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Carters Lake Estates. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Ellijay-Gilmer Co. Water Auth. | 13,010 | 2.3 ppb |
| Eagles Mountain Campground | 1,820 | 0 (not detected) |
| Walnut Mountain S/D Poa | 1,105 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cherry Log Mtn.-Indian Rock | 283 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cherry Log Mtn.-Granny Lake | 265 | 0 (not detected) |
| Laurel Ridge | 224 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lake Buckhorn | 164 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cherry Log Mountain I | 151 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hidden Lake | 112 | 0 (not detected) |
| Holloway Mountain | 65 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Ellijay, GA 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 Carters Lake Estates 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.