Little Elk Creek, CO
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Little Elk Creek at a glance
Little Elk Creek serves about 150 people through 78 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Pitkin County, Colorado. EPA system ID: CO0149476; phone on file: 970-319-8741. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Little Elk Creek's lead record
Against the period ending 2025 (0.7 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Little Elk Creek is 3.4 ppb across 18 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2025 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2024 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2024 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2021 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2021 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2018 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 0.4 ppb |
Against other Colorado systems
Of the 1,025 Colorado systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Little Elk Creek's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 10th percentile in Colorado and the 13th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Pitkin County
25 other systems share Pitkin County; 20 of them have a higher latest lead result than Little Elk Creek. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Aspen City Of | 31,100 | 1 ppb |
| Snowmass Village Wsd | 6,353 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brush Creek Wd | 516 | 1.1 ppb |
| Wj Metro District | 324 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lazy Glen Hoa | 322 | 0 (not detected) |
| Aspen Village Md | 300 | 3 ppb |
| Starwood Metropolitan District | 300 | 0.5 ppb |
| Holland Hills Md | 225 | 1 ppb |
| Woody Creek Metropolitan District | 220 | 0.5 ppb |
| Buttermilk Md | 200 | 0.3 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Little Elk Creek's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Little Elk Creek whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1350 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.