Fairfield Mountains No 1, NC
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.9 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.
Fairfield Mountains No 1 at a glance
Fairfield Mountains No 1 serves about 1,798 people through 708 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Rutherford County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0181126; phone on file: 800-525-7990. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Fairfield Mountains No 1 is 3.9 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.9 ppb |
Against other North Carolina systems
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Fairfield Mountains No 1's 3.9 ppb sits at the 90th percentile in North Carolina and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
13 other systems share Rutherford County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Fairfield Mountains No 1. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Forest City, Town Of | 21,521 | 0 (not detected) |
| Broad River Water Authority | 19,136 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ellenboro Town Of | 2,322 | 0 (not detected) |
| Concord Comm Water System | 1,867 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lake Lure, Town Of | 1,176 | 15 ppb |
| Bostic, Town Of | 953 | 0 (not detected) |
| Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley | 950 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lake Lure Village Resort | 226 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bridges S/D | 200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Holly Hills S/D | 122 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Charlotte, NC 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 Fairfield Mountains No 1 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.