New Buffalo, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.7 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.
New Buffalo at a glance
New Buffalo serves about 1,900 people through 1,700 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 Berrien County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0004680; phone on file: 269-469-1500. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for New Buffalo is 2.7 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.7 ppb |
Against other Michigan systems
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. New Buffalo's 2.7 ppb sits at the 73rd percentile in Michigan and the 79th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
34 other systems share Berrien County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than New Buffalo. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew | 26,780 | 1.1 ppb |
| Niles | 14,215 | 2 ppb |
| Benton Harbor | 9,103 | 0.8 ppb |
| St Joseph | 7,930 | 4 ppb |
| Benton Charter Township | 6,768 | 0 (not detected) |
| Buchanan | 4,871 | 3 ppb |
| Lake Charter Township | 4,177 | 1.5 ppb |
| Andrews University | 3,000 | 1 ppb |
| New Buffalo Township | 2,845 | 2 ppb |
| Chikaming Township | 2,825 | 1.51 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; New Buffalo, MI 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 New Buffalo 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.