Downeast Correctional Facility, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6.4 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
Downeast Correctional Facility serves about 63 people through 12 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by the state and draws groundwater, in Washington County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0098560; phone on file: 207-707-2104. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 3.6 ppb from 2.8 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Downeast Correctional Facility is 10 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 10 ppb |
Against other Maine systems
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Downeast Correctional Facility's 6.4 ppb sits at the 92nd percentile in Maine and the 94th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
21 other systems share Washington County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Downeast Correctional Facility. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Calais Water Dept | 2,775 | 2.4 ppb |
| Passamaquoddy Water District | 2,125 | 0.8 ppb |
| Lubec Water District | 1,775 | 0.81 ppb |
| Baileyville Utilities District | 1,688 | 3.68 ppb |
| Machias Water Company | 1,390 | 2.4 ppb |
| Indian Township Tribal Water System | 535 | 0 (not detected) |
| Milbridge Water District | 405 | 1.5 ppb |
| Danforth Water District | 313 | 5 ppb |
| Quantabacook Water District | 303 | 0.62 ppb |
| Addison Point Water District | 168 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Machiasport, ME 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 Downeast Correctional Facility 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.