Pebble Bay, NC
Exceeded the action level in the past
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. 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.
Pebble Bay at a glance
Pebble Bay serves about 587 people through 231 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Catawba County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC2018008; phone on file: 919-653-6999. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 6.5 ppb from 16.5 ppb in the period ending 2019. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pebble Bay is 16.5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 ppb |
| 2019 | 16.5 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
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. Pebble Bay's 10 ppb sits at the 98th percentile in North Carolina and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Catawba County
78 other systems share Catawba County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pebble Bay. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Hickory City Of | 71,393 | 0 (not detected) |
| Newton, City Of | 18,407 | 0 (not detected) |
| Conover, City Of | 15,347 | 0 (not detected) |
| Maiden, Town Of | 5,563 | 0 (not detected) |
| Longview, Town Of | 5,244 | 0 (not detected) |
| Southeast Catawba County | 5,080 | 0 (not detected) |
| Claremont, City Of | 2,645 | 0 (not detected) |
| Catawba, Town Of | 1,617 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cross Country Campground Inc | 627 | 0 (not detected) |
| Homestead S/D Water System | 389 | 5 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cary, 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 Pebble Bay 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.