Lewes Board Of Public Works, DE
Above the federal action level
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 21.6 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. In the most recent monitoring period, more than 10% of the sampled homes measured above 15 ppb. Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead for drinking and cooking now, and test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Lewes Board Of Public Works serves about 9,627 people through 3,800 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Sussex County, Delaware. EPA system ID: DE0000602; phone on file: 302-644-5312. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 1.4 ppb from 23 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lewes Board Of Public Works is 26.5 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, 3 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 21.6 ppb over 15 |
| 2025 | 23 ppb over 15 |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2019 | 5 ppb |
| 2018 | 26.5 ppb over 15 |
How Lewes Board Of Public Works compares
Of the 196 Delaware systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.31 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 14 have gone over at some point. Lewes Board Of Public Works's 21.6 ppb sits at the 100th percentile in Delaware and the 99th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Sussex County
96 other systems share Sussex County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lewes Board Of Public Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rehoboth Pump District (Tui) | 81,417 | 0.71 ppb |
| Bethany Bay Pump District | 52,684 | 2.3 ppb |
| Dewey Beach Water Department | 31,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rehoboth Beach Water Department | 25,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Artesian Southern Sussex Regional | 20,145 | 2 ppb |
| Sussex Shores Water Company | 12,450 | 6.9 ppb |
| Bethany Beach Water Department | 12,000 | 4.9 ppb |
| Long Neck Water Company | 11,000 | 1.1 ppb |
| Millsboro Water Department | 8,568 | 5.2 ppb |
| Bayside Pump District (Tui) | 8,400 | 2.3 ppb |
Next steps for Lewes, DE
Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead on the tap you drink and cook from, now, before you test. Then test your own tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Lewes Board Of Public Works 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.