Cowee Mountain S/D, NC
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.
About Cowee Mountain S/D
Cowee Mountain S/D serves about 46 people through 18 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Macon County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0157153; phone on file: 828-586-5588. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 4 ppb from 4 ppb in the period ending 2016. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cowee Mountain S/D is 4 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 4 ppb |
Against other North Carolina systems
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Cowee Mountain S/D's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 4th percentile in North Carolina and the 3rd nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
26 other systems share Macon County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cowee Mountain S/D. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Franklin, Town Of | 9,992 | 3 ppb |
| Highlands, Town Of | 6,614 | 4 ppb |
| Cullasaja Club | 800 | 3 ppb |
| Mill Creek Estates Property Owners Asso. | 676 | 0 (not detected) |
| Highlands Falls Country Club | 650 | 10 ppb |
| Wildcat Cliffs Country Club | 445 | 0 (not detected) |
| Watauga Vista | 361 | 0 (not detected) |
| Riverbend Estates | 323 | 5.5 ppb |
| Lbj Job Corps | 270 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cold Springs Poa | 165 | 4.5 ppb |
Next steps for Cullowhee, NC
Look up your address in Cowee Mountain S/D'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 Cowee Mountain S/D 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.