Cws - Bakersfield, CA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.8 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
Cws - Bakersfield at a glance
Cws - Bakersfield serves about 268,129 people through 65,279 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Kern County, California. EPA system ID: CA1510003; phone on file: 408-367-8593. 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 2.8 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cws - Bakersfield is 2.8 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.8 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
How Cws - Bakersfield compares
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. Cws - Bakersfield's 2.8 ppb sits at the 84th percentile in California and the 80th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Kern County
165 other systems share Kern County; 21 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cws - Bakersfield. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield, City Of | 171,108 | 1.3 ppb |
| Delano, City Of | 51,428 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oildale Mwc | 45,315 | 0 (not detected) |
| Indian Wells Valley W.D. | 41,474 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tejon Castac Wd - I5 & Laval Rd | 38,125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Antelope Valley E Kern Wtr Agy-Rosamond | 37,634 | - |
| Vaughn Wc Inc | 37,189 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Niles Csd | 32,517 | 1.4 ppb |
| Cws - North Garden | 27,634 | 4.2 ppb |
| Wasco, City Of | 22,757 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for San Jose, CA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; San Jose, CA 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 Cws - Bakersfield 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.