Mcdowell Co--Nebo, NC
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Mcdowell Co--Nebo at a glance
Mcdowell Co--Nebo serves about 902 people through 355 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Mcdowell County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC1056032; phone on file: 828-652-6428. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Mcdowell Co--Nebo is 0 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other North Carolina systems
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Mcdowell Co--Nebo's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 58th percentile in North Carolina and the 26th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Mcdowell County
20 other systems share Mcdowell County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Mcdowell Co--Nebo. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Marion, City Of | 9,362 | 0 (not detected) |
| Old Fort, Town Of | 1,700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Riverside Mhp | 399 | 0 (not detected) |
| Black Bear Development | 343 | 0 (not detected) |
| Marion Moose Lodge | 320 | 0 (not detected) |
| Woodlawn Heights Water System | 315 | 0 (not detected) |
| Little Switzerland Comm Assoc | 300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Deer Park Health & Rehab. | 290 | 0 (not detected) |
| Marion Moose Lodge-Mountain | 160 | 0 (not detected) |
| Linville Falls Club | 127 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Marion, NC
Look up your address in Mcdowell Co--Nebo'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 Mcdowell Co--Nebo 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.