Mount Desert Water Dist North, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.48 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Who runs the water here
Mount Desert Water Dist North serves about 1,623 people through 649 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 Hancock County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0091140; phone on file: 207-276-3733. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Mount Desert Water Dist North's lead record
That is up 2.48 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Mount Desert Water Dist North is 4.03 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.48 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.47 ppb |
| 2016 | 4.03 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Mount Desert Water Dist North's 2.48 ppb sits at the 68th percentile in Maine and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
29 other systems share Hancock County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than Mount Desert Water Dist North. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Town Of Bar Harbor- Water Division | 4,443 | 3.4 ppb |
| Ellsworth Water Department | 3,910 | 4 ppb |
| Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District | 2,480 | 2.1 ppb |
| Maine Water Company Bucksport Division | 1,700 | 2 ppb |
| Castine Water Department | 983 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mount Desert Water Dist -Seal | 865 | 2.77 ppb |
| Winter Harbor Water District | 700 | 1.4 ppb |
| Stonington Water Company | 683 | 1.3 ppb |
| Franklin Water Department | 420 | 3.6 ppb |
| Long Pond Water District | 308 | 4 ppb |
Next steps for Northeast Harbor, ME
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Northeast Harbor, ME 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 Desert Water Dist North 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.