Kirtland Air Force Base, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.3 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2027). 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 Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base serves about 22,500 people through 544 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is federally owned and draws groundwater, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3567701; phone on file: 505-846-7561. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.34 ppb from 0.96 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Kirtland Air Force Base is 2.3 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2027 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.96 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0.76 ppb |
Against other New Mexico systems
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Kirtland Air Force Base's 2.3 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in New Mexico and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
41 other systems share Bernalillo County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Kirtland Air Force Base. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque Water System | 560,326 | 0 (not detected) |
| University Of New Mexico | 35,000 | 1.1 ppb |
| Sandia Peak Utility | 6,079 | 2.8 ppb |
| Tierra West Estates Mhp | 1,447 | 1 ppb |
| Sandia Knolls Water System | 1,098 | 1.1 ppb |
| Tranquillo Pines Mdwca | 814 | 3.3 ppb |
| Coronado Village Country Club | 802 | 2.1 ppb |
| Tijeras (Village Of) | 541 | 1 ppb |
| South Hills Water Company | 506 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sierra Vista Mutual Domestic Association | 342 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Albuquerque, NM
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Albuquerque, NM 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 Kirtland Air Force Base 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.