Cincinnati Public Water System, OH
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.05 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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
Cincinnati Public Water System serves about 800,000 people through 244,716 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Hamilton County, Ohio. EPA system ID: OH3102612; phone on file: 513-591-7968. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Cincinnati Public Water System's lead record
Against the period ending 2025 (1.9 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cincinnati Public Water System is 12.2 ppb across 21 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.05 ppb |
| 2025 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2025 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.32 ppb |
| 2024 | 1.05 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.84 ppb |
| 2023 | 3.39 ppb |
| 2022 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 3.96 ppb |
| 2021 | 7.7 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.33 ppb |
| 2020 | 6 ppb |
| 2020 | 4.49 ppb |
| 2019 | 12.2 ppb over 10 |
| 2019 | 5 ppb |
| 2018 | 7.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.01 ppb |
| 2017 | 10 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.62 ppb |
| 2016 | 8.21 ppb |
| 2016 | 6.75 ppb |
How Cincinnati Public Water System compares
Of the 1,079 Ohio systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.7 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 27 have gone over at some point. Cincinnati Public Water System's 2.05 ppb sits at the 78th percentile in Ohio and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Hamilton County
10 other systems share Hamilton County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Cincinnati Public Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Norwood City Pws | 19,870 | 1.72 ppb |
| Indian Hill City Pws | 15,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Harrison City Pws | 11,600 | 0 (not detected) |
| Wyoming City Pws | 9,700 | 0.5 ppb |
| Reading City Pws | 9,506 | 1.9 ppb |
| Cleves Village Pws | 6,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lockland Village Pws | 3,486 | 0 (not detected) |
| Glendale Village Pws | 2,500 | 0.7 ppb |
| Addyston Village Pws | 900 | 0 (not detected) |
| Twin Rivers Water Corporation | 245 | 3 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cincinnati, OH 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 Cincinnati Public Water System 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.