Okatoma Water Association #1, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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
Okatoma Water Association #1 serves about 3,981 people through 1,508 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Simpson County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0640009; phone on file: 601-733-2363. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Okatoma Water Association #1's lead record
That is up 2.2 ppb from 0.8 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Okatoma Water Association #1 is 3 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Mississippi systems
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. Okatoma Water Association #1's 3 ppb sits at the 89th percentile in Mississippi and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
14 other systems share Simpson County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Okatoma Water Association #1. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Okatoma Water Association #2 | 5,866 | 0.7 ppb |
| Smiths Crossing Water Assn | 4,480 | 10.3 ppb |
| City Of Magee | 3,526 | 12 ppb |
| New Hope Water Association | 2,587 | 0.5 ppb |
| Highway 28 Water Association | 2,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Mendenhall | 2,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Shivers Water Association | 2,200 | 1.7 ppb |
| Harrisville W/A | 1,967 | 1.6 ppb |
| Boggan Ridge W/A | 1,500 | 0.6 ppb |
| Poplar Springs Water District | 1,188 | 0.6 ppb |
Next steps for Mount Olive, MS
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Mount Olive, 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 Okatoma Water Association #1 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.