Lakeside Water System, MT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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 Lakeside Water System
Lakeside Water System serves about 1,225 people through 514 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 groundwater, in Flathead County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0000266; phone on file: 406-844-3881. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2024 (3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lakeside Water System is 4 ppb across 12 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 4 ppb |
Against other Montana systems
Of the 753 Montana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 28 have gone over at some point. Lakeside Water System's 3 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Montana and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
135 other systems share Flathead County; 20 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lakeside Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kalispell Public Works | 25,000 | 2 ppb |
| Whitefish City Of | 10,418 | 2 ppb |
| Flathead County Water And Sewer | 9,520 | 1 ppb |
| Bigfork County Water And Sewer | 6,100 | 2 ppb |
| Columbia Falls City Of | 4,450 | 4 ppb |
| Big Mountain Water Company | 2,435 | 7 ppb |
| Hungry Horse Co Water And Sewer District | 1,135 | 0 (not detected) |
| Meadow Lake Co Water And Sewer District | 950 | 0 (not detected) |
| Somers Co Water And Sewer Dist | 765 | 2 ppb |
| Ptarmigan Village Inc | 600 | 10 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Lakeside, MT 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 Lakeside 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.