Placitas West Water Co-Op, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.6 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. 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.
About Placitas West Water Co-Op
Placitas West Water Co-Op serves about 106 people through 39 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Sandoval County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3543623; phone on file: 940-453-1720. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Placitas West Water Co-Op's lead record
That is up 1.5 ppb from 1.1 ppb in the period ending 2016. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Placitas West Water Co-Op is 2.6 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.1 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. Placitas West Water Co-Op's 2.6 ppb sits at the 71st percentile in New Mexico and the 78th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Sandoval County
27 other systems share Sandoval County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Placitas West Water Co-Op. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Rancho Water & Ww Services | 107,350 | 2 ppb |
| Bernalillo Water System | 11,810 | 1.4 ppb |
| Cuba Water System | 1,789 | 7.9 ppb |
| Jemez Springs Dwua | 1,385 | 6.8 ppb |
| La Mesa Water Coop | 911 | 0.57 ppb |
| Regina Mdwca | 705 | 0.6 ppb |
| Pena Blanca Water & Sanitation District | 700 | 3.3 ppb |
| North Ranchos De Placitas W&Sd | 659 | - |
| Las Acequias De Placitas | 596 | 1 ppb |
| Ponderosa Mdwca | 567 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Placitas, 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 Placitas West Water Co-Op 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.