Nelson Pws, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.55 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
About Nelson Pws
Nelson Pws serves about 158 people through 75 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Saline County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO2010559; phone on file: 660-815-1512. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (1.25 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Nelson Pws is 4.1 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.55 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.25 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.25 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.25 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2018 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2018 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0.74 ppb |
How Nelson Pws compares
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. Nelson Pws's 0.55 ppb sits at the 42nd percentile in Missouri and the 44th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Saline County
10 other systems share Saline County; 9 of them have a higher latest lead result than Nelson Pws. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Marshall Pws | 12,934 | 3.76 ppb |
| Saline County Pwsd 3 | 3,000 | 1.03 ppb |
| Slater Pws | 1,835 | 5.5 ppb |
| Sweet Springs Pws | 1,309 | 2.58 ppb |
| Saline County Pwsd 2 | 883 | 1.24 ppb |
| Saline County Pwsd 1 | 480 | 14.5 ppb |
| Arrow Rock Pws | 235 | 1.65 ppb |
| Malta Bend Pws | 200 | 2.28 ppb |
| Miami Pws | 140 | 1.17 ppb |
| Gilliam Pws | 125 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Nelson, MO
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Nelson, MO 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 Nelson Pws 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.