Detroit Water System, OR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.62 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.
Who runs the water here
Detroit Water System serves about 100 people through 390 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Marion County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4100257; phone on file: 503-854-3496. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Detroit Water System's lead record
That is down 2.59 ppb from 4.21 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Detroit Water System is 7.45 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.62 ppb |
| 2025 | 4.21 ppb |
| 2024 | 1.51 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.47 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.48 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.17 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.04 ppb |
| 2021 | 7.45 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.38 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.38 ppb |
| 2016 | 0.29 ppb |
How Detroit Water System compares
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Detroit Water System's 1.62 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Oregon and the 65th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Marion County
71 other systems share Marion County; 25 of them have a higher latest lead result than Detroit Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Salem Public Works | 199,820 | 2 ppb |
| Keizer, City Of | 38,585 | 0 (not detected) |
| Woodburn, City Of | 29,455 | 3.4 ppb |
| Suburban East Salem Wd | 13,900 | 4.5 ppb |
| Silverton, City Of | 10,484 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Stayton | 8,400 | 6 ppb |
| Aumsville, City Of | 4,125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mount Angel, City Of | 3,650 | 6.2 ppb |
| Hubbard, City Of | 3,478 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jefferson, City Of | 3,348 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Detroit, OR 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 Detroit Water System 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.