Helms Water System, NC
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.7 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.
Who runs the water here
Helms Water System serves about 94 people through 37 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Gaston County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0136239; phone on file: 919-653-6999. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.7 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Helms Water System is 1.7 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Helms Water System compares
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Helms Water System's 1.7 ppb sits at the 82nd percentile in North Carolina and the 66th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
134 other systems share Gaston County; 25 of them have a higher latest lead result than Helms Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Two Rivers Utilities | 96,714 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mount Holly, City Of | 19,200 | 2.05 ppb |
| Belmont, City Of | 17,477 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dallas, Town Of | 8,212 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cherryville, City Of | 6,353 | 0 (not detected) |
| Stanley, Town Of | 5,750 | 2 ppb |
| Bessemer City, City Of | 5,730 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ranlo, Town Of | 4,511 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lowell, City Of | 3,837 | 0 (not detected) |
| Belmont Abbey College | 1,325 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cary, NC 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 Helms Water System 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.