Dale Water Works, IN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.59 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.
About Dale Water Works
Dale Water Works serves about 1,637 people through 705 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 surface water, in Spencer County, Indiana. EPA system ID: IN5274002; phone on file: 812-937-2086. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dale Water Works is 1.59 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.59 ppb |
Against other Indiana systems
Of the 687 Indiana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.31 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Dale Water Works's 1.59 ppb sits at the 56th percentile in Indiana and the 64th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
8 other systems share Spencer County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dale Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Reo Water Corporation | 3,875 | 6 ppb |
| Santa Claus Water Utility | 3,683 | 3 ppb |
| Finch Newton Water, Inc. | 2,672 | 3.15 ppb |
| Rockport Water | 2,520 | 1.31 ppb |
| Gentryville Water Utility | 1,625 | 1.53 ppb |
| Chrisney Water Department | 823 | 0.79 ppb |
| Grandview Municipal Water Utility | 765 | 0 (not detected) |
| St. Meinrad Utilities, Inc. | 658 | 3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dale, IN 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 Dale Water Works 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.