Central Water District, CA
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. 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.
Central Water District at a glance
Central Water District serves about 2,726 people through 826 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Santa Cruz County, California. EPA system ID: CA4410018; phone on file: 831-688-2767. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Central Water District's lead record
That is down 6 ppb from 6 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Central Water District is 6 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 6 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other California systems
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. Central Water District's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 47th percentile in California and the 32nd nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
51 other systems share Santa Cruz County; 27 of them have a higher latest lead result than Central Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz Water Department | 94,626 | 0 (not detected) |
| Watsonville, City Of | 65,231 | 1.2 ppb |
| Soquel Creek Water District | 40,962 | 2 ppb |
| San Lorenzo Valley Water Dist | 21,513 | 2.7 ppb |
| Scotts Valley Water District | 11,197 | 0.69 ppb |
| Slvwd - Felton Water System | 4,491 | 0.95 ppb |
| Mission Springs Conference Center | 1,310 | 2.4 ppb |
| Mt. Hermon Association, Inc. | 1,176 | 0 (not detected) |
| Big Basin Water Company | 1,120 | 12 ppb |
| Forest Lakes Mwc | 1,067 | 3.3 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Central 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 Central 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.