Forest Grove, City Of, OR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.6 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Forest Grove, City Of serves about 26,838 people through 7,250 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Washington County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4100305; phone on file: 503-992-3325. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (2.9 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Forest Grove, City Of is 4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.6 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.9 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 4 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Forest Grove, City Of's 3.6 ppb sits at the 83rd percentile in Oregon and the 86th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
28 other systems share Washington County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Forest Grove, City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tualatin Valley Water District | 224,600 | 5.3 ppb |
| Hillsboro, City Of | 92,632 | 0 (not detected) |
| Beaverton, City Of | 88,045 | 2.6 ppb |
| Tigard, City Of | 62,500 | 0.98 ppb |
| Tualatin, City Of | 28,106 | 4.93 ppb |
| Sherwood, City Of | 20,781 | 1.3 ppb |
| Cornelius, City Of | 14,490 | 0 (not detected) |
| West Slope Water District | 11,000 | 5.01 ppb |
| Raleigh Water District | 4,500 | 5.01 ppb |
| North Plains Water Department | 3,663 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Forest Grove, OR 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 Grove, City Of 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.