Meredith Water Dept, NH
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2020-2022). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Meredith Water Dept serves about 3,750 people through 1,216 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 surface water, in Belknap County, New Hampshire. EPA system ID: NH1521010. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Meredith Water Dept's lead record
That is down 5 ppb from 6 ppb in the period ending 2019. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Meredith Water Dept is 42 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 6 ppb |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 42 ppb over 15 |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 124 New Hampshire systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 16 ppb; 62 are over 15 ppb right now and 64 have gone over at some point. Meredith Water Dept's 1 ppb sits at the 24th percentile in New Hampshire and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
64 other systems share Belknap County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Meredith Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Laconia Water Works | 17,125 | 4 ppb |
| Locke Lake | 2,308 | - |
| Alton Water Works | 1,800 | 210 ppb |
| Belmont Water Dept | 1,612 | - |
| Gunstock Acres Village Dist | 1,440 | - |
| New Hampton Village Pct | 600 | 27 ppb |
| Pine Gardens Mhp | 413 | - |
| Lochmere Village Dist | 405 | - |
| Samoset At Winnipesaukee | 343 | - |
| Mallards Landing | 325 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Meredith, NH 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 Meredith 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.