Exeter Water Dept, NH
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2022-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Exeter Water Dept at a glance
Exeter Water Dept serves about 12,236 people through 3,515 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 Rockingham County, New Hampshire. EPA system ID: NH0801010. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Exeter Water Dept's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Exeter Water Dept is 3 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 3 ppb |
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
Against other New Hampshire systems
Of the 124 New Hampshire systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 16 ppb; 62 are over 15 ppb right now and 64 have gone over at some point. Exeter Water Dept's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 16th percentile in New Hampshire and the 37th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Rockingham County
185 other systems share Rockingham County; 17 of them have a higher latest lead result than Exeter Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth Water Works | 33,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Salem Water Dept | 21,080 | 2 ppb |
| Derry Water Dept | 17,528 | 0 (not detected) |
| Seabrook Water Dept | 14,000 | 3 ppb |
| Pease Trade Port | 9,900 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hampstead Area Water | 7,153 | 2 ppb |
| Londonderry | 6,255 | 4 ppb |
| Newmarket Water Works | 5,030 | 2 ppb |
| Rye Water Dist | 4,300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Raymond Water Dept | 3,300 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Exeter Water Dept's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Exeter Water Dept 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.