Hound Ears Water System, NC
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
About Hound Ears Water System
Hound Ears Water System serves about 975 people through 443 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Watauga County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0195112; phone on file: 800-525-7990. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2016 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Hound Ears Water System is 0 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Hound Ears 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. Hound Ears Water System's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 58th percentile in North Carolina and the 27th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
25 other systems share Watauga County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Hound Ears Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Boone, Town Of | 19,811 | 2.5 ppb |
| Appalachian State Univ Wtp | 11,150 | 0 (not detected) |
| Beech Mountain, Town Of | 2,468 | 5 ppb |
| Blowing Rock, Town Of | 1,637 | 0 (not detected) |
| Echota S/D | 710 | 0 (not detected) |
| Powder Horn Mountain | 548 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mill Ridge Poa | 427 | 0 (not detected) |
| Seven Devils, Town Of | 400 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ski Mountain S/D | 397 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bradford Park | 310 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Look up your address in Hound Ears Water System's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Hound Ears 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.