Columbus Light & Water, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.5 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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
Columbus Light & Water serves about 23,616 people through 10,553 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 groundwater, in Lowndes County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0440003; phone on file: 662-328-7192. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Columbus Light & Water's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (0.6 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Columbus Light & Water is 0.6 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Mississippi systems
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. Columbus Light & Water's 0.5 ppb sits at the 25th percentile in Mississippi and the 43rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Lowndes County
11 other systems share Lowndes County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Columbus Light & Water. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| East Lowndes W/A B West-Old Yorkville Rd | 7,355 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Lowndes W/A #2-Huckleberry | 7,035 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Caledonia | 6,589 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Lowndes #4-Herman-Vaughn | 5,678 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Lowndes W/A A East-Old Yorkville | 4,778 | 0 (not detected) |
| Columbus Air Force Base | 3,300 | 1.4 ppb |
| Prairie Land Water Association, Inc | 2,500 | 5.8 ppb |
| East Lowndes W/A #1-Lee Stokes | 2,209 | 0 (not detected) |
| South Lowndes W/A | 1,230 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Crawford | 942 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Columbus, 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 Columbus Light & Water 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.