Columbia Water Co, PA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 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.
Columbia Water Co at a glance
Columbia Water Co serves about 25,200 people through 10,648 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. EPA system ID: PA7360123; phone on file: 717-684-2188. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Columbia Water Co's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Columbia Water Co is 4.8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.98 ppb |
How Columbia Water Co compares
Of the 516 Pennsylvania systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 143 are over 15 ppb right now and 156 have gone over at some point. Columbia Water Co's 1 ppb sits at the 33rd percentile in Pennsylvania and the 56th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
92 other systems share Lancaster County; 24 of them have a higher latest lead result than Columbia Water Co. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Lancaster | 120,000 | 7 ppb |
| Ephrata Area Joint Authority | 24,500 | 1.52 ppb |
| East Hempfield Water Auth | 20,988 | 8 ppb |
| Elizabethtown Area Water | 19,000 | 3 ppb |
| Mt Joy Boro Auth | 15,261 | 4 ppb |
| Lititz Boro | 9,397 | 7 ppb |
| Warwick Twp Lititz Sys | 8,561 | 1 ppb |
| New Holland Borough | 8,490 | 0 (not detected) |
| Millersville Univ | 7,950 | 3 ppb |
| Upper Leacock Township | 7,734 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Columbia, PA 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 Columbia Water Co 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.