Port Angeles Composite, WA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.6 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Port Angeles Composite serves about 8,872 people through 3,784 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Clallam County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5343296. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Port Angeles Composite's lead record
That is down 1.5 ppb from 3.1 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Port Angeles Composite is 3.1 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Port Angeles Composite's 1.6 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Washington and the 65th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Clallam County
61 other systems share Clallam County; 21 of them have a higher latest lead result than Port Angeles Composite. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Port Angeles City Of | 28,067 | 2 ppb |
| Sequim City Of | 14,293 | 2.1 ppb |
| Forks Municipal Water Dept | 3,468 | 2 ppb |
| Dry Creek Water Association | 3,030 | 5 ppb |
| West Sequim Bay Inc | 2,759 | 1 ppb |
| Crescent Water Assn | 2,360 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sunland Water District | 2,235 | 5 ppb |
| Clallam Bay Sekiu | 1,719 | 1.8 ppb |
| Evergreen Clallam County Pud 1 | 1,694 | 2.3 ppb |
| Carlsborg Lud 10 12 13 14 | 1,349 | 2.4 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Carlsborg, WA 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 Port Angeles Composite 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.