Melvin Waterworks, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.6 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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 Melvin Waterworks
Melvin Waterworks serves about 202 people through 140 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Osceola County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA7234069; phone on file: 712-330-9699. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Melvin Waterworks's lead record
That is up 2.4 ppb from 2.2 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Melvin Waterworks is 5.6 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 5.6 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Melvin Waterworks's 4.6 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Iowa and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
6 other systems share Osceola County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Melvin Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Osceola Rural Water System-North | 7,002 | 4.9 ppb |
| Sibley Public Water Supply | 2,860 | 1 ppb |
| Osceola Rural Water System-South | 2,112 | 1.7 ppb |
| Ashton Municipal Water Department | 456 | 1.6 ppb |
| Ocheyedan Water Works | 439 | 2 ppb |
| Harris Water Supply | 151 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sibley, IA 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 Melvin 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.