Howard City, MI
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
Howard City at a glance
Howard City serves about 1,800 people through 617 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 Montcalm County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0003240; phone on file: 231-937-4311. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Howard City is 0 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Michigan systems
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Howard City's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 26th percentile in Michigan and the 30th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
11 other systems share Montcalm County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Howard City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Greenville | 8,816 | 9.2 ppb |
| Carson City | 3,322 | 1 ppb |
| Montcalm Community College | 1,484 | - |
| Stanton | 1,417 | 2 ppb |
| Edmore | 1,256 | 1 ppb |
| Lakeview | 1,007 | 5 ppb |
| Sheridan | 649 | 11 ppb |
| Great Lakes Adventist Academy | 360 | 2.72 ppb |
| Sheridan Estates | 65 | 2 ppb |
| The Pines | 65 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Howard City, MI
Look up your address in Howard City'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 Howard City 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.