Independence Pws, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 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
Independence Pws serves about 120,000 people through 48,781 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Jackson County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO1010399; phone on file: 816-325-7695. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.1 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Independence Pws is 9 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 9 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 6 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
How Independence Pws compares
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. Independence Pws's 1.1 ppb sits at the 51st percentile in Missouri and the 58th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
27 other systems share Jackson County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Independence Pws. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Lees Summit Pws | 99,400 | 0 (not detected) |
| Blue Springs Pws | 61,084 | 2.81 ppb |
| Jackson County Pwsd 1 | 24,500 | 3.45 ppb |
| Raytown Water Company | 17,066 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jackson County Pwsd 2 | 16,440 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grain Valley Pws | 16,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jackson County Pwsd 13 | 9,700 | 1.54 ppb |
| Oak Grove Pws | 9,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jackson County Pwsd 15 | 8,772 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jackson County Pwsd 12 | 5,695 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Independence, 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 Independence Pws 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.