Cohoes City, NY
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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
Cohoes City serves about 18,447 people through 4,738 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Albany County, New York. EPA system ID: NY0100192; phone on file: 518-528-2303. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cohoes City is 2 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.27 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
Against other New York systems
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Cohoes City's 1.3 ppb sits at the 45th percentile in New York and the 61st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Albany County
34 other systems share Albany County; 18 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cohoes City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Albany City | 98,000 | 13 ppb |
| Latham Water District | 85,590 | 2 ppb |
| Bethlehem Wd No 1 | 31,000 | 1.02 ppb |
| Guilderland Town Wd | 30,000 | 2.8 ppb |
| Watervliet City | 9,889 | 2 ppb |
| Colonie Village | 8,030 | 1 ppb |
| Menands Village | 4,500 | 3 ppb |
| Ravena Village | 4,500 | 1 ppb |
| Voorheesville Village | 3,100 | 6 ppb |
| Green Island Village | 2,900 | 2.6 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cohoes, NY 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 Cohoes City 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.