La Luz Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.9 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.
About La Luz Mdwca
La Luz Mdwca serves about 1,917 people through 710 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Otero County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3513719; phone on file: 575-437-7717. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
La Luz Mdwca's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for La Luz Mdwca is 12 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.9 ppb |
| 2022 | 4 ppb |
| 2019 | 12 ppb over 10 |
How La Luz Mdwca compares
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 Luz Mdwca's 3.9 ppb sits at the 81st percentile in New Mexico and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Otero County
35 other systems share Otero County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than La Luz Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Alamogordo Domestic Water System | 35,301 | 2 ppb |
| Holloman Air Force Base | 13,000 | 1.3 ppb |
| Tularosa Water System | 3,485 | 1.9 ppb |
| Cloudcroft Water System | 2,865 | 2.6 ppb |
| Timberon W And Sd | 2,698 | 3.1 ppb |
| Twin Forks Mdwca | 1,274 | 3.6 ppb |
| Cloud Country West Water System | 684 | 1.5 ppb |
| Boles Acres Water System | 657 | 0 (not detected) |
| Eileen Acres Mdwca | 457 | - |
| Robinhood Water Users Association | 426 | 2.6 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; La Luz, 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 Luz Mdwca 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.