Marquette, MI
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Marquette serves about 20,629 people through 6,856 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Marquette County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0004120; phone on file: 906-228-0436. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is down 17 ppb from 19 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Marquette is 19 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 ppb |
| 2025 | 19 ppb over 15 |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 6 ppb |
| 2021 | 7 ppb |
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2019 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2017 | 11 ppb over 10 |
How Marquette compares
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Marquette's 2 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in Michigan and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
22 other systems share Marquette County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Marquette. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Ishpeming | 6,470 | 1.8 ppb |
| Negaunee | 4,568 | 1.9 ppb |
| K I Sawyer | 3,000 | - |
| Marquette Township | 2,700 | 1.3 ppb |
| Forsyth Township | 2,479 | 2 ppb |
| Ishpeming Twp - West | 2,148 | 2.9 ppb |
| Negaunee Township | 961 | 6 ppb |
| Republic Township | 700 | 1.3 ppb |
| Richmond Township | 489 | 5 ppb |
| Tilden Township | 375 | 5.3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Marquette, MI 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 Marquette 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.