Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.7 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston serves about 1,618 people through 613 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Kemper County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0350003; phone on file: 601-677-3558. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
That is up 2.58 ppb from 1.12 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston is 3.7 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.12 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.6 ppb |
How Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston compares
Of the 973 Mississippi systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 44 have gone over at some point. Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston's 3.7 ppb sits at the 92nd percentile in Mississippi and the 86th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Kemper County
11 other systems share Kemper County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kipling W/A #1 | 2,637 | 2.3 ppb |
| Porterville W/A | 2,445 | 0.52 ppb |
| North West Kemper W/A #4 | 1,671 | 0 (not detected) |
| Nw Kemper W/A #2- Cleveland | 1,196 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Dekalb | 985 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Scooba | 744 | 0.9 ppb |
| Nw Kemper W/A #3-Kynard | 407 | 0.28 ppb |
| Townsend Water Association | 238 | 0.3 ppb |
| Kipling W/A #4 | 169 | 0.3 ppb |
| Porterville W/A-Kemper Springs | 108 | 0.83 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Preston, MS 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 Nw Kemper W/A #1-Preston 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.