Friend, City Of, NE
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 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.
Friend, City Of at a glance
Friend, City Of serves about 964 people through 511 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Saline County, Nebraska. EPA system ID: NE3115102; phone on file: 402-826-1310. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 3.4 ppb from 9.4 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Friend, City Of is 9.4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 6 ppb |
| 2023 | 9.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 6.94 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.14 ppb |
How Friend, City Of compares
Of the 576 Nebraska systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.55 ppb; 7 are over 15 ppb right now and 29 have gone over at some point. Friend, City Of's 6 ppb sits at the 91st percentile in Nebraska and the 93rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Saline County
7 other systems share Saline County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Friend, City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Crete, City Of | 7,566 | 1.57 ppb |
| Wilber, City Of | 1,930 | 1.9 ppb |
| Dewitt, Village Of | 598 | 0.73 ppb |
| Dorchester, Village Of | 586 | 0.91 ppb |
| Western, Village Of | 249 | 2.9 ppb |
| Tobias, Village Of | 102 | 1.25 ppb |
| Swanton, Village Of | 88 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Friend, NE 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 Friend, 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.