Hay Creek Water Company, SD
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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
Hay Creek Water Company serves about 323 people through 134 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Butte County, South Dakota. EPA system ID: SD4602143. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Hay Creek Water Company's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Hay Creek Water Company is 10 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 10 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 458 South Dakota systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 6 have gone over at some point. Hay Creek Water Company's 1 ppb sits at the 32nd percentile in South Dakota and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
7 other systems share Butte County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Hay Creek Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Belle Fourche | 5,617 | 3 ppb |
| Newell | 583 | 1 ppb |
| Nisland | 206 | 3 ppb |
| Black Hills Water Distribution, Llc | 135 | 1 ppb |
| Vale Sanitary District | 120 | 1 ppb |
| Fruitdale | 75 | 1 ppb |
| Riverside Mobile Home Court | 75 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Belle Fourche, SD
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Belle Fourche, SD 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 Hay Creek 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.