Cherokee Water & Gas Department, AL
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2024-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Cherokee Water & Gas Department at a glance
Cherokee Water & Gas Department serves about 1,992 people through 664 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Colbert County, Alabama. EPA system ID: AL0000311; phone on file: 938-214-9247. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (0.52 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cherokee Water & Gas Department is 6.75 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0.52 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 6.75 ppb |
Against other Alabama systems
Of the 542 Alabama systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 11 have gone over at some point. Cherokee Water & Gas Department's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 18th percentile in Alabama and the 31st nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
9 other systems share Colbert County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cherokee Water & Gas Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle Shoals Utility Board | 22,467 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tuscumbia Water Works | 16,539 | 1.86 ppb |
| Sheffield Utilities, City Of Sheffield | 13,758 | 1.8 ppb |
| Colbert County Rural Water System | 13,449 | 0.52 ppb |
| Spring Valley Water Authority | 5,520 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hawk Pride Mt Water System | 4,035 | 0 (not detected) |
| Littleville Water Works | 3,576 | 0.2 ppb |
| Lagrange Mountain Water Authority | 1,242 | 0 (not detected) |
| Leighton, Wsb Of The Town Of | 1,203 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Cherokee Water & Gas Department's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Cherokee Water & Gas Department 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.