Dow City Water Works, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Dow City Water Works serves about 467 people through 255 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 groundwater, in Crawford County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA2427049; phone on file: 712-674-3350. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
That is down 6.7 ppb from 8 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dow City Water Works is 8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2020 | 8 ppb |
| 2017 | 6 ppb |
| 2017 | 6 ppb |
Against other Iowa systems
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Dow City Water Works's 1.3 ppb sits at the 49th percentile in Iowa and the 60th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
9 other systems share Crawford County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dow City Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Denison Water Supply | 9,381 | 1.2 ppb |
| W Central Rwa - Denison Subsys | 2,428 | 0 (not detected) |
| Schleswig Munic Water Supply | 803 | 1 ppb |
| Manilla Muni Service Dept | 758 | 2 ppb |
| Charter Oak Water Supply | 522 | 3 ppb |
| Vail Water Supply | 383 | 1.5 ppb |
| Westside Water Supply | 277 | 3.4 ppb |
| Kiron Water Supply | 257 | 2.2 ppb |
| Deloit Muni Water Supply | 250 | 0.3 ppb |
Next steps for Dow City, IA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dow City, IA 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 Dow City Water Works 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.