Delaware City Water Department (Awc), DE
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
Delaware City Water Department (Awc) serves about 2,610 people through 870 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 New Castle County, Delaware. EPA system ID: DE0000566; phone on file: 302-453-2389. 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 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Delaware City Water Department (Awc) is 1.7 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 1.7 ppb |
Against other Delaware systems
Of the 196 Delaware systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.31 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 14 have gone over at some point. Delaware City Water Department (Awc)'s 1 ppb sits at the 66th percentile in Delaware and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
30 other systems share New Castle County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Delaware City Water Department (Awc). If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Artesian Water Company | 231,114 | 1 ppb |
| Wilmington Water Department | 107,976 | 0 (not detected) |
| Veolia Water Delaware, Inc | 100,495 | 2 ppb |
| Newark Water Department | 40,000 | 1 ppb |
| Middletown Water Department | 17,700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Municipal Services Commission | 5,549 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Ncc District | 5,538 | 0 (not detected) |
| North West Pump District | 4,149 | 0.8 ppb |
| Willow Grove Mill | 3,090 | 0 (not detected) |
| Delaware Correctional Center | 2,000 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Newark, DE 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 Delaware City Water Department (Awc) 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.