Cougar Meadows, MT
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2023-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Cougar Meadows at a glance
Cougar Meadows serves about 45 people through 20 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Mineral County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0004345; phone on file: 406-749-0494. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cougar Meadows is 0 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Montana systems
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. Cougar Meadows's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 5th percentile in Montana and the 3rd nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
8 other systems share Mineral County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cougar Meadows. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Superior Town Of | 1,100 | 1 ppb |
| Alberton Town Of | 495 | 4 ppb |
| Shyrock Motorcoach Community | 150 | - |
| West Mountain Estates | 125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Trestle Creek I And Ii | 110 | 1 ppb |
| High Country Mhp Llc | 76 | 0 (not detected) |
| Deer Lick Subdivision Water District | 70 | 1 ppb |
| Old Mill Peninsula Hoa | 40 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for St Regis, MT
Look up your address in Cougar Meadows's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Cougar Meadows 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.