Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company, ID
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
About Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company
Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company serves about 428 people through 171 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Kootenai County, Idaho. EPA system ID: ID1280260; phone on file: 877-755-9287. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company is 8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 8 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
How Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company compares
Of the 763 Idaho systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company's 1 ppb sits at the 52nd percentile in Idaho and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
112 other systems share Kootenai County; 44 of them have a higher latest lead result than Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Coeur D Alene City Of | 54,115 | 2 ppb |
| Post Falls City Of | 20,285 | 1 ppb |
| East Greenacres Irrigation Dist | 11,165 | 3 ppb |
| Ross Point Water Dist | 10,473 | 2 ppb |
| Rathdrum City Of | 10,358 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hayden Lake Irrigation Dist | 9,375 | 0 (not detected) |
| Avondale Irrigation Dist | 8,785 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hillside Service Area | 4,140 | 1 ppb |
| Rimrock Service Area | 3,493 | 0 (not detected) |
| Spirit Lake City Of | 2,825 | 1.6 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Coeur D'Alene, ID 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 Gem State - Bitterroot Water Company 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.