Dover Water Dept, NH
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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.
Dover Water Dept at a glance
Dover Water Dept serves about 29,000 people through 9,200 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Strafford County, New Hampshire. EPA system ID: NH0651010. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dover Water Dept is 2 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other New Hampshire systems
Of the 124 New Hampshire systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 16 ppb; 62 are over 15 ppb right now and 64 have gone over at some point. Dover Water Dept's 1 ppb sits at the 27th percentile in New Hampshire and the 56th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
46 other systems share Strafford County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dover Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rochester Water Dept | 25,000 | 2 ppb |
| Unh/Durham Water Sys | 16,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Somersworth Water Works | 12,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Farmington Water Dept | 3,250 | - |
| Rollinsford Water Sewer Dist | 1,688 | 43 ppb |
| Milton Water Dist | 800 | - |
| Pineland Park | 425 | - |
| Emerald Acres | 250 | - |
| Sunrise Estates | 235 | - |
| Swains Lake Village Water | 227 | - |
Next steps for Dover, NH
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dover, NH 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 Water Dept 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.