Cawood Water District, KY
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
About Cawood Water District
Cawood Water District serves about 4,428 people through 1,560 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Harlan County, Kentucky. EPA system ID: KY0480565; phone on file: 606-573-3744. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cawood Water District is 0 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 367 Kentucky systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 4 have gone over at some point. Cawood Water District's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 27th percentile in Kentucky and the 34th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Harlan County
14 other systems share Harlan County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cawood Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Harlan Municipal Water Works | 4,574 | 0 (not detected) |
| Evarts Municipal Water Plant | 3,059 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cumberland Municipal Water Works | 2,843 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black Mtn Utility/Dayhoit | 1,954 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black Mtn Utility/Rosspoint | 1,889 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black Mtn Utility/Wallins | 1,485 | 0 (not detected) |
| Green Hills Water District | 1,443 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black Mtn Utility/Kenvir | 1,396 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lynch Water Works | 1,078 | 2 ppb |
| Benham Water Plant | 855 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Cawood Water District's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Cawood Water District 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.