Olean Town Water District, NY
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 ppb (monitoring period 2018-2020). 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
Olean Town Water District serves about 350 people through 130 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 surface water, in Cattaraugus County, New York. EPA system ID: NY0422400; phone on file: 716-373-0582. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.1 ppb from 3.9 ppb in the period ending 2017. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Olean Town Water District is 5 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.9 ppb |
How Olean Town Water District compares
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Olean Town Water District's 5 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in New York and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Cattaraugus County
44 other systems share Cattaraugus County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Olean Town Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Olean City | 14,500 | 3.5 ppb |
| Salamanca City | 5,815 | 2.6 ppb |
| Gowanda Village | 2,800 | 2.2 ppb |
| Allegany Village | 2,000 | 4.5 ppb |
| Allegany Town District #8 (St. Bonas) | 1,850 | 2.62 ppb |
| Franklinville Village | 1,760 | 1 ppb |
| Randolph Town Water District | 1,738 | 2.2 ppb |
| Ellicottville Town Water District | 1,420 | 1 ppb |
| Little Valley Village | 1,188 | 1.4 ppb |
| Cattaraugus Village | 1,185 | 1 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Olean, NY 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 Olean Town Water District 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.