Cayuga Lake Water District # 3, NY
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (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. 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.
Cayuga Lake Water District # 3 at a glance
Cayuga Lake Water District # 3 serves about 432 people through 173 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Seneca County, New York. EPA system ID: NY4930009; phone on file: 315-729-6357. 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 2020 (1.4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cayuga Lake Water District # 3 is 4 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 4 ppb |
Against other New York systems
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Cayuga Lake Water District # 3's 1 ppb sits at the 33rd percentile in New York and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
25 other systems share Seneca County; 22 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cayuga Lake Water District # 3. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Seneca Falls | 9,400 | 2 ppb |
| Waterloo Village | 7,000 | 9.6 ppb |
| Seneca County Water District #1 | 1,820 | 8.3 ppb |
| Border City Water District | 1,600 | 8.3 ppb |
| Ovid Village | 990 | 5.7 ppb |
| Interlaken Village | 650 | 3 ppb |
| Junius Water District #1 | 400 | 8.3 ppb |
| Willard Water District | 372 | 10.15 ppb |
| Seneca Lake Water District #1 | 333 | 8.3 ppb |
| Town Of Waterloo Water District | 250 | 8.3 ppb |
Next steps for Waterloo, NY
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Waterloo, NY 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 Cayuga Lake Water District # 3 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.