Forest City, IL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.1 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.
Forest City at a glance
Forest City serves about 222 people through 89 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 Mason County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL1250010; phone on file: 309-352-3500. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Forest City's lead record
That is down 3.8 ppb from 5.9 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Forest City is 5.9 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 5.9 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 1.7 ppb |
How Forest City compares
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. Forest City's 2.1 ppb sits at the 73rd percentile in Illinois and the 74th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
5 other systems share Mason County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Forest City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Havana | 2,963 | 2.9 ppb |
| Mason City | 2,393 | 0 (not detected) |
| Manito | 1,552 | 0 (not detected) |
| San Jose | 479 | 3.8 ppb |
| Easton | 325 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Green Valley, IL
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Green Valley, IL 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 Forest City 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.