Phantom Hills Water System, MT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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.
Who runs the water here
Phantom Hills Water System serves about 810 people through 248 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Missoula County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0004379; phone on file: 406-552-6753. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Phantom Hills Water System is 3 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
| 2016 | 2 ppb |
How Phantom Hills Water System compares
Of the 753 Montana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 28 have gone over at some point. Phantom Hills Water System's 3 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Montana and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
80 other systems share Missoula County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Phantom Hills Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Missoula Water | 68,200 | 2 ppb |
| Lolo Water And Sewer Dist | 3,315 | 2 ppb |
| Seeley Lake Water District | 1,575 | 4 ppb |
| El Mar Estates Msla Co Water | 1,350 | 1 ppb |
| Westview Mobile Home Park | 947 | 1 ppb |
| Travois Village Mobile Park | 702 | 2 ppb |
| Wye Area Water System | 512 | 1 ppb |
| Grant Creek Water Users Association Inc | 380 | 0 (not detected) |
| Katoonah Lodges | 258 | 3 ppb |
| Sorrel Springs Hoa | 250 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Missoula, MT 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 Phantom Hills Water System 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.