Pine Knoll Shores, NC
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
About Pine Knoll Shores
Pine Knoll Shores serves about 4,800 people through 1,890 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Carteret County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0416031; phone on file: 252-247-4353. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pine Knoll Shores is 0 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Pine Knoll Shores compares
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. Pine Knoll Shores's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 69th percentile in North Carolina and the 35th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Carteret County
29 other systems share Carteret County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pine Knoll Shores. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| West Carteret Water Corp | 19,512 | 0 (not detected) |
| Morehead City, Town Of | 18,846 | 0 (not detected) |
| Atlantic Beach, Town Of | 6,380 | 0 (not detected) |
| Newport Water System | 5,453 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bogue Banks Water Corporation | 4,995 | 4 ppb |
| Beaufort, Town Of | 4,452 | 4.5 ppb |
| North River/Mill Creek Water Service Dis | 4,417 | 4 ppb |
| Harkers Island Sanitary Dist | 2,586 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brandywine Bay | 2,245 | 0 (not detected) |
| Goose Creek Resort | 1,600 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Look up your address in Pine Knoll Shores's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Pine Knoll Shores 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.