Morning Star, MT
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2024-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Morning Star serves about 85 people through 41 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Flathead County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0001672; phone on file: 406-260-8227. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Morning Star's lead record
Against the period ending 2017 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Morning Star is 0 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Montana systems
Of the 753 Montana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 28 have gone over at some point. Morning Star's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 16th percentile in Montana and the 8th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
135 other systems share Flathead County; 83 of them have a higher latest lead result than Morning Star. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kalispell Public Works | 25,000 | 2 ppb |
| Whitefish City Of | 10,418 | 2 ppb |
| Flathead County Water And Sewer | 9,520 | 1 ppb |
| Bigfork County Water And Sewer | 6,100 | 2 ppb |
| Columbia Falls City Of | 4,450 | 4 ppb |
| Big Mountain Water Company | 2,435 | 7 ppb |
| Lakeside Water System | 1,225 | 3 ppb |
| Hungry Horse Co Water And Sewer District | 1,135 | 0 (not detected) |
| Meadow Lake Co Water And Sewer District | 950 | 0 (not detected) |
| Somers Co Water And Sewer Dist | 765 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Bigfork, MT
Look up your address in Morning Star's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Morning Star 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.