La Bajada Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
La Bajada Mdwca serves about 66 people through 30 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3502926; phone on file: 505-690-2887. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
La Bajada Mdwca's lead record
That is up 3.2 ppb from 0.8 ppb in the period ending 2018. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for La Bajada Mdwca is 4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 ppb |
| 2018 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
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. La Bajada Mdwca's 4 ppb sits at the 82nd percentile in New Mexico and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
42 other systems share Santa Fe County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than La Bajada Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe Water System (City Of) | 90,810 | 1.1 ppb |
| Eldorado Area Water And Sanitation Dist. | 7,082 | 1.9 ppb |
| Epcor Water New Mexico Inc., Edgewood | 6,795 | 10 ppb |
| Santa Fe County South Sector | 6,775 | 3.3 ppb |
| Santa Fe County West Sector | 3,150 | 5 ppb |
| Glorieta Camps | 2,700 | 11 ppb |
| Las Campanas Water System | 1,937 | 1.6 ppb |
| Sunlit Hills Water System | 1,018 | 2.8 ppb |
| Agua Fria Water Association | 611 | 2.6 ppb |
| El Vadito De Los Cerrillos Water Assoc | 461 | 1.3 ppb |
Next steps for Pena Blanca, NM
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Pena Blanca, 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 La Bajada Mdwca whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1900 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.