Fairburn Water Association, SD
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
About Fairburn Water Association
Fairburn Water Association serves about 65 people through 24 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Custer County, South Dakota. EPA system ID: SD4600877. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Fairburn Water Association's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Fairburn Water Association is 4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 3 ppb |
| 2019 | 4 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 458 South Dakota systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 6 have gone over at some point. Fairburn Water Association's 3 ppb sits at the 74th percentile in South Dakota and the 81st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
9 other systems share Custer County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Fairburn Water Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Custer | 1,919 | 2 ppb |
| Hermosa-Old System | 420 | 7 ppb |
| Spring Creek Acres | 172 | 1 ppb |
| Buffalo Gap | 126 | 2 ppb |
| Hermosa Water Users Association | 108 | 2 ppb |
| Heartland Country Ranchettes | 95 | 1 ppb |
| Rock Ridge Court | 74 | 3 ppb |
| North Hermosa Wud | 40 | 1 ppb |
| Paramount Point | 40 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Fairburn, SD 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 Fairburn Water Association 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.