Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley, NC
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. 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.
Who runs the water here
Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley serves about 950 people through 374 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: NC0181133; phone on file: 800-525-7990. 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 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley is 0 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley compares
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 Mtns-Apple Valley's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 58th percentile in North Carolina and the 26th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
13 other systems share Rutherford County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley. 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) |
| Fairfield Mountains No 1 | 1,798 | 3.9 ppb |
| Lake Lure, Town Of | 1,176 | 15 ppb |
| Bostic, Town Of | 953 | 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) |
Next steps for Charlotte, NC
Look up your address in Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley'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 Fairfield Mtns-Apple Valley 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.