Port Clyde Water District, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.1 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.
About Port Clyde Water District
Port Clyde Water District serves about 330 people through 136 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 Knox County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0091290; phone on file: 207-372-0593. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2020 (4 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Port Clyde Water District is 5 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2020 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
How Port Clyde Water District compares
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Port Clyde Water District's 4.1 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Maine and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Knox County
15 other systems share Knox County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Port Clyde Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Maine Water Company Camden & Rockland | 21,315 | 4.5 ppb |
| Vinalhaven Water District | 1,053 | 1.5 ppb |
| Maine Water Company Warren Division | 815 | 0 (not detected) |
| North Haven Water Department | 740 | 0.64 ppb |
| Tenants Harbor Water District | 378 | 0 (not detected) |
| Maine Water Company Union Division | 238 | 0.5 ppb |
| Mountainside Mobile Home Park | 130 | 2 ppb |
| Friendship Water Department | 85 | 1.1 ppb |
| Elliott Apartments | 55 | 0 (not detected) |
| Crawford Commons | 50 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Port Clyde, ME 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 Clyde Water District 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.