Milbank, SD
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
Milbank at a glance
Milbank serves about 3,544 people through 2,100 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 Grant County, South Dakota. EPA system ID: SD4600207; phone on file: 6054670494. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Milbank's lead record
That is down 2 ppb from 4 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Milbank is 5 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 4 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 5 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
How Milbank compares
Of the 458 South Dakota systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 6 have gone over at some point. Milbank's 2 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in South Dakota and the 72nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Grant County
3 other systems share Grant County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Milbank. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Big Stone City | 412 | 1 ppb |
| Sunrise Colony | 94 | 0 (not detected) |
| Marvin | 19 | 2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Milbank, SD 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 Milbank whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1400 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.