Charles Brown Water Company, CA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.5 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2027). 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.
Charles Brown Water Company at a glance
Charles Brown Water Company serves about 242 people through 31 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Inyo County, California. EPA system ID: CA1400004; phone on file: 760-852-4224. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Charles Brown Water Company's lead record
That is up 2.5 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Charles Brown Water Company is 2.5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2027 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
How Charles Brown Water Company compares
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. Charles Brown Water Company's 2.5 ppb sits at the 81st percentile in California and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
43 other systems share Inyo County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Charles Brown Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bishop, City Of | 3,819 | 0 (not detected) |
| Inyo County Pwd - Lone Pine | 1,835 | 0 (not detected) |
| Highland Mobile Home Park | 1,260 | 0 (not detected) |
| Inyo County Pwd - Independence | 1,108 | 0 (not detected) |
| Indian Creek Csd | 1,030 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rolling Green Utilities, Inc. | 940 | 0 (not detected) |
| Big Pine Csd | 798 | 0 (not detected) |
| Meadowcreek Mutual Water Company | 764 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sierra Highland Csd | 600 | 0 (not detected) |
| Glenwood Mobile Estates | 468 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Shoshone, CA 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 Charles Brown Water Company 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.