Johnson City Water Works, NY
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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 Johnson City Water Works
Johnson City Water Works serves about 16,578 people through 5,622 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Broome County, New York. EPA system ID: NY0301668; phone on file: 607-797-2523. 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 2024 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Johnson City Water Works is 3 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.19 ppb |
How Johnson City Water Works compares
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Johnson City Water Works's 2 ppb sits at the 60th percentile in New York and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
57 other systems share Broome County; 15 of them have a higher latest lead result than Johnson City Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Binghamton, City Of | 47,600 | 1 ppb |
| Endicott Municipal Water Works | 45,000 | 4 ppb |
| Vestal Consolidated W.D. #1 | 22,200 | 1 ppb |
| Chenango Consolidated Wd #1 | 9,200 | 2 ppb |
| Conklin Water System | 2,654 | 1 ppb |
| Binghamton (T) Consolidated Wd | 2,600 | 1.3 ppb |
| Kirkwood Consolidated Wd #1 | 2,600 | 1 ppb |
| Hillcrest Wd #1 | 2,100 | 1 ppb |
| Deposit (V) Water Department | 2,080 | 1 ppb |
| Port Dickinson Village | 1,785 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for Johnson City, NY
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Johnson City, NY 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 Works 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.