Cherokee Md, CO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (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. 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 Cherokee Md
Cherokee Md serves about 29,610 people through 9,111 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 groundwater, in El Paso County, Colorado. EPA system ID: CO0121125; phone on file: 719-597-5080. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2021 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cherokee Md is 4.6 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 3 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 3 ppb |
| 2017 | 4 ppb |
| 2016 | 4.6 ppb |
Against other Colorado systems
Of the 1,025 Colorado systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Cherokee Md's 2 ppb sits at the 75th percentile in Colorado and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in El Paso County
69 other systems share El Paso County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cherokee Md. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Springs Utilities | 464,111 | 5.7 ppb |
| Us Department Of The Army Fort Carson | 48,000 | 10.4 ppb |
| Widefield Wsd | 27,640 | 1.9 ppb |
| Fountain City Of | 25,130 | 4.4 ppb |
| Security Water District | 20,000 | 1.9 ppb |
| Woodmoor Wsd | 18,031 | 0 (not detected) |
| Us Air Force Academy | 16,876 | 0.6 ppb |
| Woodmen Hills Md | 13,888 | 0 (not detected) |
| Meridian Service Md | 12,760 | 0 (not detected) |
| Manitou Springs City Of | 6,938 | 2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Colorado Springs, CO 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 Cherokee Md 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.