Palm Beach County Water Utilities, FL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). 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.
About Palm Beach County Water Utilities
Palm Beach County Water Utilities serves about 671,114 people through 241,801 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Palm Beach County, Florida. EPA system ID: FL4504393; phone on file: 561-493-6000. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Palm Beach County Water Utilities is 2 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
Against other Florida systems
Of the 1,481 Florida systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 85 have gone over at some point. Palm Beach County Water Utilities's 1.4 ppb sits at the 61st percentile in Florida and the 63rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Palm Beach County
31 other systems share Palm Beach County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Palm Beach County Water Utilities. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| West Palm Beach Wtp | 132,000 | 3 ppb |
| Boca Raton Wtp | 130,000 | 0.6 ppb |
| Boynton Beach Pws | 112,000 | 4.4 ppb |
| Seacoast Utilities Authority | 97,552 | 1.6 ppb |
| Jupiter Public Water System,Town Of | 94,929 | 0.9 ppb |
| Delray Beach Public Water System | 69,754 | 3.7 ppb |
| Wellington Wtp | 56,475 | 1.7 ppb |
| Lake Worth Beach Utilities | 48,000 | 1.3 ppb |
| Riviera Beach Utility District, City Of | 46,762 | 2.4 ppb |
| Palm Springs, Village Of | 32,467 | 0.9 ppb |
Next steps for West Palm Beach, FL
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; West Palm Beach, FL 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 Palm Beach County Water Utilities 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.