Lower Colonias Mdwca, NM
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 7 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. 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.
Lower Colonias Mdwca at a glance
Lower Colonias Mdwca serves about 40 people through 13 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in San Miguel County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3501225; phone on file: 575-421-3892. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lower Colonias Mdwca's lead record
That is up 5 ppb from 2 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lower Colonias Mdwca is 32 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 7 ppb |
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2025 | 32 ppb over 15 |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
| 2016 | 4.4 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Lower Colonias Mdwca's 7 ppb sits at the 91st percentile in New Mexico and the 95th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
25 other systems share San Miguel County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Lower Colonias Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas (City Of) | 14,530 | 1.7 ppb |
| Pecos Water System | 2,133 | 8.4 ppb |
| Pendaries Mdwca | 500 | 1.5 ppb |
| East Pecos Mdwca | 413 | 1.1 ppb |
| Villanueva Mdwca | 268 | 2 ppb |
| Big Mesa Water Mdwca | 250 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ilfeld Mdwca | 249 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tecolotito Mdwca | 212 | 2 ppb |
| Sena Mdwca | 180 | - |
| La Pasada Mdwca | 164 | - |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Ribera, 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 Lower Colonias 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.