Marshall, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
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. 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.
About Marshall
Marshall serves about 7,088 people through 2,615 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Calhoun County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0004150; phone on file: 269-781-5183. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Marshall's lead record
That is down 7 ppb from 9 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Marshall is 9 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 ppb |
| 2025 | 9 ppb |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 4 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 3 ppb |
How Marshall 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. Marshall's 2 ppb sits at the 67th percentile in Michigan and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
16 other systems share Calhoun County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Marshall. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Battle Creek - Verona System | 43,975 | 2 ppb |
| Albion | 9,144 | 1 ppb |
| Pennfield Township | 3,916 | 1.6 ppb |
| Springfield | 3,833 | 0 (not detected) |
| Emmett Township | 2,550 | 0 (not detected) |
| Homer | 1,668 | - |
| Athens | 956 | - |
| Bedford Hills | 850 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tekonsha | 722 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hickory Hills | 708 | 2.13 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Marshall, 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 Marshall whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 7850 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.