Malden, IL
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
Malden serves about 318 people through 157 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 Bureau County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL0110550; phone on file: 815-643-2121. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Malden's lead record
That is down 5 ppb from 5 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Malden is 5 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.22 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.22 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.6 ppb |
Against other Illinois systems
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. Malden's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 14th percentile in Illinois and the 19th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Bureau County
23 other systems share Bureau County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Malden. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Princeton | 7,832 | 21 ppb |
| Spring Valley | 5,582 | 0 (not detected) |
| De Pue | 1,838 | 0 (not detected) |
| Walnut | 1,311 | 5.4 ppb |
| Ladd | 1,263 | 0 (not detected) |
| Wyanet | 886 | 19.5 ppb |
| Sheffield | 821 | 1.4 ppb |
| Tiskilwa | 740 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dalzell | 663 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lamoille | 660 | 22.3 ppb |
Next steps for Malden, IL
Look up your address in Malden'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 Malden 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.