Paris Pws, MO
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.04 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Paris Pws serves about 1,161 people through 647 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Monroe County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO2010624; phone on file: 660-327-4334. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (4.08 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Paris Pws is 22.7 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 4.04 ppb |
| 2023 | 4.08 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.91 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.92 ppb |
| 2019 | 22.7 ppb over 15 |
| 2018 | 2.62 ppb |
| 2018 | 3.99 ppb |
| 2017 | 22.7 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 7.22 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. Paris Pws's 4.04 ppb sits at the 88th percentile in Missouri and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
3 other systems share Monroe County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Paris Pws. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Monroe City Pws | 2,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Madison Pws | 554 | 1.24 ppb |
| Clarence Cannon Wholesale Wtr Comm | 25 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Paris, MO 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 Paris Pws 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.