Clara Water Association, MS
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6.3 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. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Clara Water Association at a glance
Clara Water Association serves about 1,690 people through 640 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Wayne County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0770002; phone on file: 601-410-3284. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Clara Water Association's lead record
Against the period ending 2025 (5.5 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Clara Water Association is 18 ppb across 14 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 6.3 ppb |
| 2025 | 5.5 ppb |
| 2025 | 17.1 ppb over 15 |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 18 ppb over 15 |
| 2023 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 6.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 10.8 ppb over 10 |
| 2022 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2020 | 3.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 7.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 6.6 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.4 ppb |
How Clara Water Association compares
Of the 973 Mississippi systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 44 have gone over at some point. Clara Water Association's 6.3 ppb sits at the 97th percentile in Mississippi and the 94th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Wayne County
6 other systems share Wayne County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Clara Water Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Buckatunna Water Association | 4,913 | 0.8 ppb |
| City Of Waynesboro | 4,570 | 3.7 ppb |
| Whistler Water Association | 4,116 | 2.4 ppb |
| Hiwannee Water Association #1 | 3,749 | 1.5 ppb |
| Southwest Wayne Water Assn | 1,101 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hiwannee Water Association #2 | 956 | 1.3 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Clara, MS 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 Clara Water Association whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1590 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. More in what a past exceedance means today.