Pamlico County Water, NC
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 10 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.
About Pamlico County Water
Pamlico County Water serves about 19,665 people through 7,742 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Pamlico County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0469025; phone on file: 252-283-1061. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is down 1.8 ppb from 11.8 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pamlico County Water is 11.8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 ppb |
| 2022 | 11.8 ppb over 10 |
| 2019 | 8.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 9.6 ppb |
How Pamlico County Water compares
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Pamlico County Water's 10 ppb sits at the 99th percentile in North Carolina and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Pamlico County
1 other system shares Pamlico County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pamlico County Water. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Oriental Water System | 1,136 | 5 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bayboro, NC 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 Pamlico County Water 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.