Penn State Univ, PA
Above the new 10 ppb level coming in 2027
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 10.8 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Under the current 15 ppb rule this is not an exceedance, but it is above the 10 ppb action level that takes over in Nov 2027. Test your own tap; filter if your result shows lead.
Penn State Univ at a glance
Penn State Univ serves about 37,000 people through 447 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by the state and draws groundwater, in Centre County, Pennsylvania. EPA system ID: PA4140095; phone on file: 814-863-6187. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 3.3 ppb from 7.5 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Penn State Univ is 18.68 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 10.8 ppb over 10 |
| 2022 | 7.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.53 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.31 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.27 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.91 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.11 ppb |
| 2016 | 18.68 ppb over 15 |
Against other Pennsylvania systems
Of the 516 Pennsylvania systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 143 are over 15 ppb right now and 156 have gone over at some point. Penn State Univ's 10.8 ppb sits at the 72nd percentile in Pennsylvania and the 98th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
42 other systems share Centre County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Penn State Univ. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| State College Boro Water Auth | 72,000 | 3.7 ppb |
| Paw Philipsburg | 20,865 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bellefonte Borough Water Auth | 9,500 | 4.62 ppb |
| College Twp Water Authority | 6,000 | 2.4 ppb |
| Mountaintop Reg Water Auth | 3,456 | 0 (not detected) |
| Spring Twp Water Authority | 3,300 | 2.9 ppb |
| Walker Twp Water Assn | 3,250 | - |
| State Corr Inst Benner Twp | 2,850 | 2.69 ppb |
| Milesburg Borough Water Auth | 2,750 | - |
| Centre Hall Boro Water Dept | 1,900 | 43.27 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; University Park, PA 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 Penn State Univ 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. See what changes at 10 ppb in 2027.