Lower Valley Water Users Association, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.5 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. 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 Lower Valley Water Users Association
Lower Valley Water Users Association serves about 8,683 people through 2,984 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 surface water, in San Juan County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3510324; phone on file: 505-598-5585. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lower Valley Water Users Association's lead record
Against the period ending 2020 (1.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lower Valley Water Users Association is 1.9 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other New Mexico systems
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 Valley Water Users Association's 0.5 ppb sits at the 27th percentile in New Mexico and the 43rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in San Juan County
13 other systems share San Juan County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lower Valley Water Users Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Farmington Water System | 47,655 | 2.2 ppb |
| Aztec Domestic Water System | 9,673 | 0.7 ppb |
| Bloomfield Water Supply System | 9,536 | 2 ppb |
| Lee Hammond Water | 8,817 | 0.83 ppb |
| Morningstar Water System | 5,694 | 0.55 ppb |
| Northstar Mdwca | 3,784 | 0 (not detected) |
| Flora Vista Mutual Domestic | 3,726 | 0 (not detected) |
| Upper La Plata Water Users Association | 2,265 | 0.6 ppb |
| Southside Mutual Domestic Water | 1,609 | 5 ppb |
| Blanco Mdwca | 1,148 | 0.69 ppb |
Next steps for Kirtland, NM
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Kirtland, 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 Valley Water Users Association 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.