Howell Oregon 2 West, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.37 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.
About Howell Oregon 2 West
Howell Oregon 2 West serves about 1,210 people through 477 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 Howell County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO4021376; phone on file: 417-256-5139. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1.22 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Howell Oregon 2 West is 5.23 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.37 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.22 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.22 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.93 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.93 ppb |
| 2016 | 5.23 ppb |
| 2016 | 5.23 ppb |
Against other Missouri systems
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. Howell Oregon 2 West's 1.37 ppb sits at the 58th percentile in Missouri and the 61st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Howell County
8 other systems share Howell County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Howell Oregon 2 West. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| West Plains Pws | 12,864 | 1.28 ppb |
| Mountain View Pws | 2,791 | 0 (not detected) |
| Willow Springs Pws | 2,250 | 1.37 ppb |
| Howell Oregon County Pwsd 2 North | 1,768 | 0 (not detected) |
| Howell County Pwsd 3 | 1,500 | 1.64 ppb |
| Howell County Pwsd 1 | 850 | 0 (not detected) |
| Howell Oregon County Pwsd 2 South | 182 | 0.64 ppb |
| Henrys Mhp | 100 | 1.23 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; West Plains, MO 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 Howell Oregon 2 West 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.