Niles, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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
Niles serves about 14,215 people through 5,000 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Berrien County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0004740; phone on file: 269-683-4700. 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 2024 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Niles is 3.1 ppb across 12 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 3 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.1 ppb |
How Niles compares
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. Niles's 2 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in Michigan and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
34 other systems share Berrien County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Niles. 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 |
| 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 |
| Watervliet | 2,735 | 0.8 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Niles, 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 Niles 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.