Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.2 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.
Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem at a glance
Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem serves about 3,315 people through 1,339 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Cherokee County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA1811001; phone on file: 712-225-6193. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem's lead record
That is up 1.3 ppb from 0.9 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem is 2.2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.6 ppb |
How Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem 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. Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem's 2.2 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in Iowa and the 75th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Cherokee County
10 other systems share Cherokee County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Cherokee Water Supply - Plant 1 | 5,199 | 1.5 ppb |
| Cherokee Rws- Mill Creek Subsystem | 1,451 | 11.6 ppb |
| Marcus Water Supply | 1,079 | 1.5 ppb |
| Aurelia Water Supply | 968 | 1.5 ppb |
| Quimby Water Supply | 249 | 0.5 ppb |
| Cleghorn Water Supply | 247 | 0 (not detected) |
| Washta Water Supply | 209 | 1.2 ppb |
| Meriden Municipal Water Supply | 161 | 3 ppb |
| Larrabee Municipal Water Works | 125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hilltop Village Mhc, Inc. | 78 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cherokee, 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 Cherokee Rws - Cherokee Subsystem 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.