Kern Valley Mutual Water Company, CA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2020-2022). 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 Kern Valley Mutual Water Company
Kern Valley Mutual Water Company serves about 132 people through 47 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Kern County, California. EPA system ID: CA1500252; phone on file: 661-859-6142. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2019 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Kern Valley Mutual Water Company is 1 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other California systems
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. Kern Valley Mutual Water Company's 1 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in California and the 52nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
165 other systems share Kern County; 56 of them have a higher latest lead result than Kern Valley Mutual Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Cws - Bakersfield | 268,129 | 2.8 ppb |
| Bakersfield, City Of | 171,108 | 1.3 ppb |
| Delano, City Of | 51,428 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oildale Mwc | 45,315 | 0 (not detected) |
| Indian Wells Valley W.D. | 41,474 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tejon Castac Wd - I5 & Laval Rd | 38,125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Antelope Valley E Kern Wtr Agy-Rosamond | 37,634 | - |
| Vaughn Wc Inc | 37,189 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Niles Csd | 32,517 | 1.4 ppb |
| Cws - North Garden | 27,634 | 4.2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Lake Isabella, CA 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 Kern Valley Mutual Water Company 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.