Melbourne Waterworks, AR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2028). 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
Melbourne Waterworks serves about 4,126 people through 1,836 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 Izard County, Arkansas. EPA system ID: AR0000256; phone on file: 870-368-4215. 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 2025 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Melbourne Waterworks is 3 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2028 | 1 ppb |
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 190 Arkansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 19 have gone over at some point. Melbourne Waterworks's 1 ppb sits at the 14th percentile in Arkansas and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
7 other systems share Izard County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Melbourne Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Horseshoe Bend Waterworks | 3,217 | - |
| Calico Rock Waterworks | 1,726 | - |
| Oxford Waterworks | 1,402 | - |
| Mt Pleasant Waterworks | 1,338 | - |
| Ar Dept Of Correction Izard Co | 907 | - |
| Guion Water Department | 268 | - |
| Franklin Waterworks | 192 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Melbourne, AR 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 Melbourne Waterworks 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.