Patten Water Dept, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 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. 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.
Patten Water Dept at a glance
Patten Water Dept serves about 338 people through 135 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 groundwater, in Penobscot County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0091240; phone on file: 207-528-2215. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2023 (2.4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Patten Water Dept is 3.9 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 3.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 2 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Patten Water Dept's 1.4 ppb sits at the 49th percentile in Maine and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
48 other systems share Penobscot County; 30 of them have a higher latest lead result than Patten Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bangor Water District | 27,298 | 7.45 ppb |
| Brewer Water Department | 8,860 | 2.1 ppb |
| Old Town Water District | 7,648 | 7.9 ppb |
| Orono-Veazie Water District | 5,793 | 10 ppb |
| Maine Water Company Millinocket Division | 5,400 | 2.8 ppb |
| Hampden Water District | 4,800 | 2.52 ppb |
| Lincoln Water District | 3,020 | 0.96 ppb |
| Dexter Utility District | 2,338 | 4.9 ppb |
| East Millinocket Water Works | 2,133 | 2.8 ppb |
| Newport Water District | 1,900 | 1.3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Patten, ME 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 Patten Water Dept 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.