Falls Creek Ranch, CO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6.4 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.
Who runs the water here
Falls Creek Ranch serves about 215 people through 98 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in La Plata County, Colorado. EPA system ID: CO0134270; phone on file: 970-259-4278. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is up 4.3 ppb from 2.1 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Falls Creek Ranch is 8.9 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6.4 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 6.9 ppb |
| 2023 | 4.2 ppb |
| 2021 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2018 | 6.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 8.9 ppb |
Against other Colorado systems
Of the 1,025 Colorado systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Falls Creek Ranch's 6.4 ppb sits at the 96th percentile in Colorado and the 94th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
52 other systems share La Plata County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Falls Creek Ranch. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Durango City Of | 33,787 | 3.1 ppb |
| Animas Wc | 3,096 | 8.8 ppb |
| Bayfield Town Of | 2,300 | 2.7 ppb |
| Forest Lakes Md | 1,699 | 1.7 ppb |
| Lake Durango Wa | 1,577 | 0.7 ppb |
| Purgatory Md | 1,364 | 2 ppb |
| Edgemont Ranch Md | 1,200 | 1.5 ppb |
| Durango West Md No 2 | 930 | 2 ppb |
| Ignacio Town Of | 800 | 0.8 ppb |
| Durango West Md No 1 | 750 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Durango, CO 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 Falls Creek Ranch 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.