Maine Water Utility, WI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.8 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). 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.
Who runs the water here
Maine Water Utility serves about 271 people through 77 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 Marathon County, Wisconsin. EPA system ID: WI7370107. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
That is up 3.3 ppb from 1.5 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Maine Water Utility is 4.8 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 1.8 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 947 Wisconsin systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.33 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Maine Water Utility's 4.8 ppb sits at the 87th percentile in Wisconsin and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
22 other systems share Marathon County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Maine Water Utility. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Wausau Waterworks | 39,994 | 5.8 ppb |
| Weston Municipal Utilities | 16,000 | 0.75 ppb |
| Kronenwetter Water & Sewer Utility | 6,931 | 0.76 ppb |
| Rib Mountain Water Utility | 6,398 | 2.4 ppb |
| Mosinee Waterworks | 3,406 | 2.2 ppb |
| Rothschild Waterworks | 3,190 | 7.3 ppb |
| Abbotsford Waterworks | 2,502 | 3.5 ppb |
| Schofield Waterworks | 2,205 | 0 (not detected) |
| Spencer Waterworks | 1,848 | 0.8 ppb |
| Colby Waterworks | 1,829 | 0.95 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Wausau, WI 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 Maine Water Utility 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.