Cross County Rural Water Sys, AR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.6 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2028). 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.
Cross County Rural Water Sys at a glance
Cross County Rural Water Sys serves about 8,750 people through 3,811 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 groundwater, in Craighead,Cross,Jackson,Poinsett,St. Francis,Woodruff County, Arkansas. EPA system ID: AR0000459; phone on file: 870-697-2632. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.6 ppb from 1 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cross County Rural Water Sys is 3 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2028 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
Against other Arkansas systems
Of the 190 Arkansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 19 have gone over at some point. Cross County Rural Water Sys's 2.6 ppb sits at the 77th percentile in Arkansas and the 78th nationally (higher means more lead).
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Hickory Ridge, AR 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 Cross County Rural Water Sys 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.