Charles Town Utilities, WV
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.6 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
About Charles Town Utilities
Charles Town Utilities serves about 15,220 people through 7,195 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 surface water, in Jefferson County, West Virginia. EPA system ID: WV3301905; phone on file: 304-725-2316. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2024 (0.88 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Charles Town Utilities is 6 ppb across 12 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.88 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.26 ppb |
| 2022 | 3.14 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.14 ppb |
| 2021 | 4.05 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.84 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.3 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 6 ppb |
How Charles Town Utilities compares
Of the 408 West Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.9 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 20 have gone over at some point. Charles Town Utilities's 0.6 ppb sits at the 39th percentile in West Virginia and the 45th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Jefferson County
11 other systems share Jefferson County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Charles Town Utilities. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Wvaw - Walnut Grove Utilities | 7,250 | 3 ppb |
| Corporation Of Shepherdstown | 4,300 | 1.7 ppb |
| Corporation Of Harpers Ferry | 2,122 | 2.9 ppb |
| Wvaw - The Mountain Water System | 976 | 1 ppb |
| Charles Town Utl-Glen Haven Utilities | 195 | 3 ppb |
| Wvaw - Deerfield Village Subdivision | 132 | 2 ppb |
| Wvaw - Cave Quarter Utility | 126 | 1 ppb |
| Charles Town Utl-Cavaland Subdivision | 107 | 2 ppb |
| Leights Mhp | 78 | 0.7 ppb |
| Russells Mhp | 75 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for Charles Town, WV
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Charles Town, WV 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 Town 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.