Chehalem Valley Water Assn, OR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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.
Chehalem Valley Water Assn at a glance
Chehalem Valley Water Assn serves about 75 people through 34 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Yamhill County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4100558; phone on file: 503-544-4237. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is down 3 ppb from 5 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Chehalem Valley Water Assn is 5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Oregon systems
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Chehalem Valley Water Assn's 2 ppb sits at the 68th percentile in Oregon and the 70th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Yamhill County
37 other systems share Yamhill County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Chehalem Valley Water Assn. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Mcminnville Water & Light | 34,515 | 1.2 ppb |
| Newberg, City Of | 25,138 | 2.32 ppb |
| Sheridan, City Of | 6,494 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lafayette, City Of | 4,423 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dundee, City Of | 2,960 | 1.1 ppb |
| Dayton, City Of | 2,535 | 0 (not detected) |
| Carlton, City Of | 2,270 | 1.8 ppb |
| Willamina, City Of | 2,239 | 2.4 ppb |
| Amity, City Of | 1,810 | 0 (not detected) |
| Yamhill, City Of | 1,199 | 2.92 ppb |
Next steps for Newberg, OR
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Newberg, OR 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 Chehalem Valley Water Assn 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.