Potomac Bay Estates, VA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.48 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 Potomac Bay Estates
Potomac Bay Estates serves about 75 people through 37 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Northumberland County, Virginia. EPA system ID: VA4133698; phone on file: 804-580-9108. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Potomac Bay Estates's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (1.64 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Potomac Bay Estates is 2.48 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.48 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.64 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
Against other Virginia systems
Of the 996 Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 59 have gone over at some point. Potomac Bay Estates's 2.48 ppb sits at the 78th percentile in Virginia and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
38 other systems share Northumberland County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Potomac Bay Estates. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bay Quarter Shores | 726 | 1 ppb |
| Reedville, Town Of | 480 | 2.15 ppb |
| Sherwood Forest Shores | 421 | 0 (not detected) |
| Callao | 393 | 1.32 ppb |
| Indian Creek Estates | 318 | 0.74 ppb |
| Heathsville | 306 | 1.36 ppb |
| Chesapeake Bay Estates | 288 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mallard Bay Subdivision | 264 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lottsburg | 201 | 2.9 ppb |
| White Sand Harbour | 200 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Heathsville, VA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Heathsville, VA 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 Potomac Bay Estates 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.