Ponderosa Water, L.L.C, AZ
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6 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. 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
Ponderosa Water, L.L.C serves about 117 people through 44 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Gila County, Arizona. EPA system ID: AZ0404020. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
That is up 6 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ponderosa Water, L.L.C is 11 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 3.5 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 730 Arizona systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 58 have gone over at some point. Ponderosa Water, L.L.C's 6 ppb sits at the 92nd percentile in Arizona and the 93rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
37 other systems share Gila County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ponderosa Water, L.L.C. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Payson Town Of | 17,682 | 3.5 ppb |
| Arizona Water Co - Miami Claypool | 8,616 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pine Strawberry Wid | 8,013 | 13 ppb |
| Globe City Of | 7,536 | 0.68 ppb |
| Tonto Basin Water - Lr Gardens West | 1,172 | 8.5 ppb |
| Town Of Star Valley Water Department | 1,157 | 0 (not detected) |
| Payson Water - Mesa De Caballo | 976 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hayden Town Of | 517 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tonto Basin Water Roosevelt Lake Estates | 508 | 7.5 ppb |
| Gisela | 508 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Strawberry, AZ 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 Ponderosa Water, L.L.C 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.