Central Arkansas Water, AR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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
Central Arkansas Water serves about 368,455 people through 167,722 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Pulaski County, Arkansas. EPA system ID: AR0000465; phone on file: 501-223-1579. 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 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Central Arkansas Water is 1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
How Central Arkansas Water compares
Of the 190 Arkansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 19 have gone over at some point. Central Arkansas Water's 1 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Arkansas and the 56th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
4 other systems share Pulaski County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Central Arkansas Water. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Waterworks | 32,875 | 1.2 ppb |
| Us Air Force Base Little Rock | 8,618 | 1 ppb |
| Maumelle Water Corporation | 2,832 | - |
| Camp Robinson | 1,500 | - |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Little Rock, AR 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 Central Arkansas Water 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.