Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.4 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.
Who runs the water here
Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant serves about 1,683 people through 900 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Ringgold County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA8055014; phone on file: 641-464-2402. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 2.4 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant is 4 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 4 ppb |
How Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant compares
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. Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant's 2.4 ppb sits at the 71st percentile in Iowa and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
2 other systems share Ringgold County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Diagonal Water Department | 338 | 1.6 ppb |
| Kellerton Water Supply | 247 | 15 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Mount Ayr, 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 Mount Ayr Water Treatment Plant 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.