Marathon Light & Water Department, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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
Marathon Light & Water Department serves about 230 people through 120 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 Buena Vista County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA1150030; phone on file: 712-289-2261. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Marathon Light & Water Department's lead record
That is down 3.4 ppb from 5.4 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Marathon Light & Water Department is 5.4 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 5.4 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
Against other Iowa systems
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Marathon Light & Water Department's 2 ppb sits at the 61st percentile in Iowa and the 70th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
10 other systems share Buena Vista County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Marathon Light & Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Storm Lake Water Treatment Plant | 11,431 | 0 (not detected) |
| Alta Municipal Water Plant | 2,087 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sioux Rapids Water Department | 932 | 6.5 ppb |
| Newell Water Treatment Plant | 921 | 1.1 ppb |
| Lakeside Water Supply | 700 | 0.7 ppb |
| Albert City Muni Water Supply | 677 | 1.4 ppb |
| Rembrandt Water Supply | 209 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lake Creek Homeowners Association | 175 | 0.1 ppb |
| Linn Grove Water Works | 163 | 2.3 ppb |
| Truesdale Water Supply | 69 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Marathon, IA 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 Marathon Light & Water Department 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.