Cowikee Water Authority, AL
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2025-2027). 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.
Cowikee Water Authority at a glance
Cowikee Water Authority serves about 1,995 people through 663 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 groundwater, in Barbour County, Alabama. EPA system ID: AL0001460; phone on file: 344-687-6333. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2026 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cowikee Water Authority is 5 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2027 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
How Cowikee Water Authority compares
Of the 542 Alabama systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 11 have gone over at some point. Cowikee Water Authority's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 18th percentile in Alabama and the 31st 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 Barbour County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cowikee Water Authority. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Eufaula Water Works | 17,970 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bakerhill Water Authority | 7,056 | 0 (not detected) |
| Clio Water Works | 2,832 | 0 (not detected) |
| Clayton Water Works & Sewer | 2,064 | 0.87 ppb |
| West Barbour Co Water Authority | 1,395 | 0 (not detected) |
| Louisville Water Works, Town Of | 1,350 | 1.3 ppb |
| Mt. Andrew Water Authority | 660 | 0.99 ppb |
| Blue Springs Water System, Town Of | 636 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Look up your address in Cowikee Water Authority'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 Cowikee Water Authority 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.