Chelsea Water Supply, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.6 ppb (monitoring period 2020-2022). 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
Chelsea Water Supply serves about 229 people through 130 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Tama County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA8609019; phone on file: 319-231-3577. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Chelsea Water Supply's lead record
That is up 2.6 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2019. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Chelsea Water Supply is 2.6 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0.5 ppb |
How Chelsea Water Supply compares
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Chelsea Water Supply's 2.6 ppb sits at the 72nd percentile in Iowa and the 78th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Tama County
10 other systems share Tama County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Chelsea Water Supply. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Poweshiek Water Association | 13,920 | 0.6 ppb |
| Tama Water Supply | 3,130 | 4.8 ppb |
| Toledo Water Supply | 2,399 | 0 (not detected) |
| Traer Municipal Water Plant | 1,583 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dysart Water Supply | 1,281 | 0 (not detected) |
| Gladbrook Water Supply | 799 | 6 ppb |
| Garwin Water Supply | 481 | 0 (not detected) |
| Clutier Water Supply | 213 | 0 (not detected) |
| Montour Water Supply | 203 | 2.2 ppb |
| Elberon Water Supply | 184 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Chelsea, IA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Chelsea, IA 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 Chelsea Water Supply 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.