Pinos Altos Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.43 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
Pinos Altos Mdwca serves about 348 people through 145 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 Grant County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3510609; phone on file: 575-590-1152. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pinos Altos Mdwca is 0.43 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.43 ppb |
Against other New Mexico systems
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Pinos Altos Mdwca's 0.43 ppb sits at the 26th percentile in New Mexico and the 42nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Grant County
16 other systems share Grant County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pinos Altos Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Silver City Water System | 14,400 | 0.76 ppb |
| Bayard Municipal Water System | 2,616 | 2.1 ppb |
| Santa Clara Water System | 1,682 | 5.4 ppb |
| Hurley, Town Of | 1,613 | 0.57 ppb |
| Arenas Valley Mdwca | 1,204 | 1.4 ppb |
| Freeport Mcmoran Chino Mines | 1,050 | 6 ppb |
| Tyrone Townsite | 782 | 0.67 ppb |
| Casas Adobes Mdwca | 610 | 0 (not detected) |
| Burro Mountain Homestead | 415 | 12 ppb |
| North Hurley Mdwca | 404 | 0.85 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Silver City, NM 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 Pinos Altos Mdwca 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.