Kipu, HI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 9.34 ppb (monitoring period 2019-2021). 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 Kipu
Kipu serves about 80 people through 20 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Maui County, Hawaii. EPA system ID: HI0000245; phone on file: 808-552-2390. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Kipu is 9.34 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 9.34 ppb |
Against other Hawaii systems
Of the 112 Hawaii systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 1 have gone over at some point. Kipu's 9.34 ppb sits at the 99th percentile in Hawaii and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Maui County
34 other systems share Maui County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Kipu. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Wailuku | 74,511 | 0 (not detected) |
| Makawao | 29,868 | 0.88 ppb |
| Lahaina | 20,065 | 0.78 ppb |
| Kaanapali | 8,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Upper Kula | 7,686 | 1.7 ppb |
| Kapalua | 4,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kaunakakai | 3,702 | 0.77 ppb |
| Lower Kula | 3,522 | 3.7 ppb |
| Lanai City | 3,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hoolehua | 2,400 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Maunaloa, HI 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 Kipu 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.