Johnson City Water Dept, TN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2028). 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.
Johnson City Water Dept at a glance
Johnson City Water Dept serves about 105,057 people through 46,281 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 surface water, in Washington County, Tennessee. EPA system ID: TN0000331; phone on file: 423-375-2649. 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 2025 (1.3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Johnson City Water Dept is 1.4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2028 | 1 ppb |
| 2025 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.2 ppb |
Against other Tennessee systems
Of the 453 Tennessee systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 10 have gone over at some point. Johnson City Water Dept's 1 ppb sits at the 76th percentile in Tennessee and the 56th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
1 other system shares Washington County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Johnson City Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jonesborough Water Dept | 33,069 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for Johnson City, TN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Johnson City, TN 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 Johnson City Water Dept 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.