City Of Portola, CA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 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.
Who runs the water here
City Of Portola serves about 2,100 people through 1,154 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 Plumas County, California. EPA system ID: CA3210003; phone on file: 530-832-6809. 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 2020 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for City Of Portola is 2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.1 ppb |
How City Of Portola compares
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. City Of Portola's 2 ppb sits at the 79th percentile in California and the 72nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
26 other systems share Plumas County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than City Of Portola. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| American Valley Csd | 3,778 | 0.3 ppb |
| Chester Public U.D. | 2,187 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hamilton Branch Csd | 1,874 | 0 (not detected) |
| West Almanor M.W.C. | 1,464 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ivcsd-Greenville | 795 | 1.49 ppb |
| Graeagle Water Company | 737 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grizzly Lake Csd-Delleker | 657 | 0 (not detected) |
| Whitehawk Ranch Mwc | 540 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lake Almanor Country Club Mwc | 500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Plumas Eureka Csd | 334 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Portola, CA 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 Portola 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.