Cougar Crest, WA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.6 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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.
About Cougar Crest
Cougar Crest serves about 290 people through 91 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Cowlitz County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5315130. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (1.2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cougar Crest is 5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Cougar Crest's 1.6 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Washington and the 65th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Cowlitz County
30 other systems share Cowlitz County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cougar Crest. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Longview Water Department | 57,617 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kelso City Of | 15,775 | 1 ppb |
| Beacon Hill Water & Sewer District | 11,969 | 0 (not detected) |
| Woodland City Of | 10,640 | 2.1 ppb |
| Kalama City Of | 8,020 | 1 ppb |
| Castle Rock Municipal Water | 4,367 | 5 ppb |
| Toutle Community Regional Water | 3,215 | 2 ppb |
| Carrolls Water Assn | 449 | 1.3 ppb |
| Ryderwood Improvement & Service As | 434 | 0.5 ppb |
| Lewis River Rv Park | 347 | 2.7 ppb |
Next steps for Port Orchard, WA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Port Orchard, WA 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 Cougar Crest 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.