Jefferson Co Rwd 3, KS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.22 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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 Jefferson Co Rwd 3
Jefferson Co Rwd 3 serves about 2,435 people through 814 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 Jefferson County, Kansas. EPA system ID: KS2008708; phone on file: 785-945-3245. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (1.4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Jefferson Co Rwd 3 is 2.8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.22 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 2.8 ppb |
How Jefferson Co Rwd 3 compares
Of the 832 Kansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 35 have gone over at some point. Jefferson Co Rwd 3's 2.22 ppb sits at the 68th percentile in Kansas and the 75th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
17 other systems share Jefferson County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Jefferson Co Rwd 3. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Co Rwd 12 | 3,635 | 3.4 ppb |
| Jefferson Co Rwd 1 | 2,343 | 1.7 ppb |
| Jefferson Co Rwd 13 | 2,115 | 0.1 ppb |
| Jefferson Co Rwd 7 | 1,180 | 0 (not detected) |
| Valley Falls, City Of | 1,086 | 4.1 ppb |
| Oskaloosa, City Of | 1,086 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mclouth, City Of | 858 | 0 (not detected) |
| Perry, City Of | 858 | 3.52 ppb |
| Jefferson Co Rwd 2 | 642 | 2.9 ppb |
| Ozawkie, City Of | 636 | 2.57 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Valley Falls, KS 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 Jefferson Co Rwd 3 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.