Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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
Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities serves about 40,713 people through 12,814 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Black Hawk County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA0709084; phone on file: 319-268-5331. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (1.6 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities is 3.46 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.39 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.46 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities's 1.4 ppb sits at the 51st percentile in Iowa and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
9 other systems share Black Hawk County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Waterloo Water Works | 69,504 | 1.8 ppb |
| Evansdale Water Works | 4,561 | 1.2 ppb |
| Hudson Water Supply | 2,546 | 3.21 ppb |
| La Porte City Utilities | 2,284 | 1 ppb |
| Elk Run Heights Water Supply | 1,069 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dunkerton Muni Water Supply | 842 | 1.2 ppb |
| Gilbertville Water Works | 796 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cedar Falls Mobile Home Village | 388 | 1.24 ppb |
| Lenwood Utilities | 238 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cedar Falls, IA 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 Cedar Falls Municipal Water Utilities 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.