Dover Air Force Base, DE
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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 Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base serves about 11,000 people through 180 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is federally owned and draws groundwater, in Kent County, Delaware. EPA system ID: DE0000579; phone on file: 302-242-6485. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Dover Air Force Base's lead record
That is up 1.5 ppb from 3.5 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dover Air Force Base is 7.8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 ppb |
| 2023 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 7.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 6 ppb |
How Dover Air Force Base compares
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. Dover Air Force Base's 5 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Delaware and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
57 other systems share Kent County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dover Air Force Base. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Dover Water Department | 39,491 | 2 ppb |
| Camden Pump District | 17,208 | 0 (not detected) |
| Garrison Lake Pump District | 17,148 | 0.62 ppb |
| Smyrna Water Department | 11,813 | 0 (not detected) |
| Milford Water Department | 9,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Church Creek (Awc) | 9,654 | 0 (not detected) |
| Artesian Northern Kent Regional | 7,014 | 0 (not detected) |
| Camden Wyoming Sewer And Water Authority | 5,000 | 2.1 ppb |
| Harrington Water Department | 3,562 | 0 (not detected) |
| Felton Water Department | 1,591 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dover, 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 Dover Air Force Base 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.