Dearborn, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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 Dearborn
Dearborn serves about 109,976 people through 32,581 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Wayne County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0001730; phone on file: 313-943-2129. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is down 6.6 ppb from 12.6 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dearborn is 12.6 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 ppb |
| 2024 | 12.6 ppb over 10 |
| 2023 | 8.9 ppb |
| 2022 | 8.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 5.71 ppb |
| 2020 | 5.85 ppb |
| 2019 | 9.24 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.32 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Dearborn's 6 ppb sits at the 91st percentile in Michigan and the 93rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
43 other systems share Wayne County; 9 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dearborn. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit City Of | 633,218 | 7.5 ppb |
| Canton Township | 99,627 | 0 (not detected) |
| Livonia | 96,942 | 0 (not detected) |
| Westland | 85,420 | 0 (not detected) |
| Taylor | 63,409 | 10.7 ppb |
| Dearborn Heights | 57,774 | 0 (not detected) |
| Redford Township | 49,504 | 8.2 ppb |
| Lincoln Park | 38,144 | 3.1 ppb |
| Brownstown Township | 33,194 | 0 (not detected) |
| Northville Township | 32,103 | 0.9 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dearborn, MI 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 Dearborn 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.