Lake Margaret Water System, WA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.8 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Lake Margaret Water System at a glance
Lake Margaret Water System serves about 406 people through 152 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in King County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5344200. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
That is down 4.3 ppb from 6.1 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lake Margaret Water System is 46 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 6.1 ppb |
| 2019 | 5.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 46 ppb over 15 |
How Lake Margaret Water System compares
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Lake Margaret Water System's 1.8 ppb sits at the 66th percentile in Washington and the 67th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
153 other systems share King County; 41 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lake Margaret Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle Public Utilities | 1,161,961 | 1.6 ppb |
| Bellevue City Of | 321,349 | - |
| Kent Water Department | 166,421 | 0 (not detected) |
| Redmond Water System City Of | 163,335 | 2 ppb |
| Lakehaven Water And Sewer District | 148,809 | 3.3 ppb |
| Renton City Of | 108,091 | 1.9 ppb |
| Auburn City Of | 107,655 | 2.2 ppb |
| Highline Water District | 100,170 | 1.4 ppb |
| Northshore Utility District | 99,789 | - |
| Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer | 79,362 | 1.7 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Carnation, WA 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 Lake Margaret Water System 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.