Cornelia, GA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 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.
Cornelia at a glance
Cornelia serves about 6,130 people through 2,700 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Habersham County, Georgia. EPA system ID: GA1370003; phone on file: 706-778-4832. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.1 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cornelia is 48 ppb across 15 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 14 ppb over 10 |
| 2024 | 14 ppb over 10 |
| 2023 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2019 | 48 ppb over 15 |
| 2017 | 8.7 ppb |
| 2016 | 11 ppb over 10 |
Against other Georgia systems
Of the 1,681 Georgia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.68 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 131 have gone over at some point. Cornelia's 1.1 ppb sits at the 58th percentile in Georgia and the 57th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Habersham County
13 other systems share Habersham County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cornelia. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Demorest | 18,049 | 2 ppb |
| Clarkesville | 5,785 | 0.56 ppb |
| Baldwin | 4,160 | 0 (not detected) |
| Alto | 2,737 | 1 ppb |
| Mount Airy | 1,384 | 4.5 ppb |
| The Orchard Development | 639 | 0 (not detected) |
| Deer Trail Lakes/High Meadows Subdivisio | 111 | 0 (not detected) |
| Old River Road Hoa | 104 | 2.5 ppb |
| Old Panther Creek Subdivision | 75 | 1.6 ppb |
| Pinecrest Mountain S/D | 67 | 12.9 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cornelia, GA 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 Cornelia 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.