Effingham County Surface Water System, GA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.2 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
Effingham County Surface Water System serves about 12,293 people through 1,773 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 surface water, in Effingham County, Georgia. EPA system ID: GA1030131; phone on file: 912-754-2111. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (2.2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Effingham County Surface Water System is 3.1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Effingham County Surface Water System compares
Of the 1,681 Georgia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.68 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 131 have gone over at some point. Effingham County Surface Water System's 1.2 ppb sits at the 61st percentile in Georgia and the 59th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
68 other systems share Effingham County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Effingham County Surface Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rincon Water System | 16,654 | 1 ppb |
| Springfield | 3,100 | 3.9 ppb |
| Guyton | 2,394 | 0 (not detected) |
| Westwood Heights Subdivision | 1,370 | 0 (not detected) |
| Azalea Point | 1,037 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lakeside Farms / Bloomingdale | 993 | 0 (not detected) |
| Conifer Crossing/Pine Hill | 759 | 0 (not detected) |
| Foxbow Farms | 723 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hickory Knob Subdivision | 671 | 0 (not detected) |
| Goshen Villa Subdivision | 632 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Springfield, GA 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 Effingham County Surface Water System 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.