Mechanic Falls Water Dept, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.85 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.
About Mechanic Falls Water Dept
Mechanic Falls Water Dept serves about 2,010 people through 804 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 groundwater, in Androscoggin County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0090960; phone on file: 207-345-2871. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Mechanic Falls Water Dept's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (1.4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Mechanic Falls Water Dept is 4.3 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.85 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2018 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2016 | 4.3 ppb |
How Mechanic Falls Water Dept compares
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Mechanic Falls Water Dept's 0.85 ppb sits at the 38th percentile in Maine and the 48th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Androscoggin County
18 other systems share Androscoggin County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Mechanic Falls Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Lewiston Water & Sewer Division | 23,720 | 1.7 ppb |
| Auburn Water District | 17,245 | 5 ppb |
| Lisbon Water Department | 6,643 | 3.4 ppb |
| Livermore Falls Water District | 2,995 | 12.3 ppb |
| Sabattus Sanitary District | 1,688 | 1.5 ppb |
| Pine Ridge Hunton Brook Association | 298 | 0 (not detected) |
| Begin Trailer Park | 170 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hillview Estates | 140 | 1 ppb |
| Poland Country Village Mhp Inc | 140 | 0 (not detected) |
| Country Acres Trailer Park | 75 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Mechanic Falls, ME
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Mechanic Falls, ME 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 Mechanic Falls 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.