East Alton, IL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.8 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 East Alton
East Alton serves about 5,786 people through 2,407 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Madison County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL1190200; phone on file: 618-259-4646. 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 up 1.8 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for East Alton is 1.8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.2 ppb |
Against other Illinois systems
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. East Alton's 1.8 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in Illinois and the 68th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
35 other systems share Madison County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than East Alton. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Il American-Alton | 46,127 | 3 ppb |
| Il American-Granite City | 33,572 | 6 ppb |
| Collinsville | 30,616 | 0 (not detected) |
| Edwardsville | 26,808 | 0 (not detected) |
| Troy | 16,962 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bethalto | 15,210 | 1.2 ppb |
| Glen Carbon | 12,618 | 0 (not detected) |
| Highland | 10,674 | 0 (not detected) |
| Wood River | 10,464 | 0 (not detected) |
| Maryville | 10,150 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; East Alton, IL 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 East Alton 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.