City Of Columbia Utilities, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.1 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
City Of Columbia Utilities serves about 126,254 people through 50,207 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 groundwater, in Boone County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO3010181; phone on file: 573-874-7264. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (1.57 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for City Of Columbia Utilities is 3.25 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2025 | 1.57 ppb |
| 2023 | 3.25 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.64 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.06 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.14 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. City Of Columbia Utilities's 2.1 ppb sits at the 72nd percentile in Missouri and the 74th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
11 other systems share Boone County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than City Of Columbia Utilities. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| University Of Missouri Columbia | 40,000 | 2.01 ppb |
| Boone County Cons Pwsd 1 | 24,700 | 3.48 ppb |
| Boone County Pwsd 9 | 15,035 | 3.79 ppb |
| Boone County Pwsd 4 | 6,455 | 2.49 ppb |
| Ashland Pws | 4,999 | 2.84 ppb |
| Boone County Pwsd 10 | 4,963 | 2.41 ppb |
| Centralia Pws | 4,027 | 1.32 ppb |
| Hallsville Pws | 1,732 | 1.81 ppb |
| Sturgeon Pws | 945 | 1.59 ppb |
| Kuhle H20 | 450 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Columbia, MO 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 City Of Columbia Utilities 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.