Ojo Caliente Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 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
Ojo Caliente Mdwca serves about 226 people through 103 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 Taos County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3506621; phone on file: 505-583-2498. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is down 3 ppb from 8 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ojo Caliente Mdwca is 8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 ppb |
| 2022 | 8 ppb |
| 2021 | 5 ppb |
| 2019 | 6 ppb |
Against other New Mexico systems
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Ojo Caliente Mdwca's 5 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in New Mexico and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
41 other systems share Taos County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ojo Caliente Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Taos Municipal Water System | 5,528 | 5 ppb |
| Questa Water System | 2,337 | 3.3 ppb |
| El Prado Water & Sanitation District | 1,076 | 7 ppb |
| Village Of Taos Ski Valley | 1,025 | 2.6 ppb |
| Llano Quemado Mdwca | 800 | 2 ppb |
| Ranchos De Taos Mdwca | 750 | 2.7 ppb |
| Talpa Mdwca | 700 | 2.2 ppb |
| Red River Water System | 679 | - |
| Chamisal Mdwca | 550 | 1.7 ppb |
| Penasco Mdwca | 549 | 5.3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Ojo Caliente, NM 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 Ojo Caliente Mdwca 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.