Conrad Water Dept, MT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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.
Conrad Water Dept at a glance
Conrad Water Dept serves about 2,500 people through 1,276 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 Pondera County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0000186; phone on file: 406-271-5821. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2018 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Conrad Water Dept is 3 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 753 Montana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 28 have gone over at some point. Conrad Water Dept's 3 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Montana and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Pondera County
9 other systems share Pondera County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Conrad Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tiber County Water District | 750 | 2 ppb |
| Valier Town Of | 452 | 1 ppb |
| Brady County Water Sewer District | 144 | 23 ppb |
| Ncmrwa Pondera Co Service Area | 144 | - |
| New Miami Colony | 130 | 0 (not detected) |
| Birch Creek Colony | 120 | 1 ppb |
| Kingsbury Colony | 120 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pondera Colony Water Systems | 112 | 0 (not detected) |
| Midway Colony Inc | 92 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Conrad, MT 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 Conrad Water Dept 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.