East Tawas, City Of, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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
East Tawas, City Of serves about 2,663 people through 1,448 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Iosco County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0002010; phone on file: 989-362-6161. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for East Tawas, City Of is 1 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Michigan systems
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. East Tawas, City Of's 1 ppb sits at the 49th percentile in Michigan and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Iosco County
10 other systems share Iosco County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than East Tawas, City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Oscoda Township | 6,997 | 3 ppb |
| Au Sable Township | 2,370 | 2 ppb |
| Tawas City, City Of | 1,834 | 4 ppb |
| Baldwin Township | 650 | 1 ppb |
| Alabaster Township | 86 | 1.68 ppb |
| Hale Homestead Apartments | 72 | 31 ppb |
| Hale Creek Manor | 43 | 0 (not detected) |
| Whittemore Square Apartments | 30 | 0 (not detected) |
| Northern Pines | 13 | 18 ppb |
| Huron Shore Regional Utility Authority | 1 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; East Tawas, MI 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 Tawas, City Of 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.