Marcus Water Dept, WA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.5 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
Marcus Water Dept serves about 191 people through 93 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 Stevens County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5351550. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
That is up 2.5 ppb from 1 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Marcus Water Dept is 3.5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Marcus Water Dept's 3.5 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Washington and the 85th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
32 other systems share Stevens County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Marcus Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Stevens Co Pud - Suncrest | 7,484 | 1.4 ppb |
| Colville Water Department | 4,945 | 1.1 ppb |
| Stevens Co Pud - Deer Lake | 2,884 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kettle Falls Water Dept | 2,698 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chewelah Water Dept South | 2,615 | 3.1 ppb |
| Stevens Co Pud - Loon Lake | 2,487 | 0 (not detected) |
| Stevens Co Pud - Waitts Lake | 1,216 | 0 (not detected) |
| Stevens Co Pud - Clayton | 725 | 0 (not detected) |
| Stevens Co Pud - Valley | 550 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chewelah Water Dept North | 350 | 1.4 ppb |
Next steps for Washington
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; your state 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 Marcus Water Dept 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.