Princeton, Town Of, NC
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2026-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Princeton, Town Of serves about 1,653 people through 769 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Johnston County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0351050; phone on file: 919-936-8171. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Princeton, Town Of is 16 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 16 ppb over 15 |
| 2025 | 8.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 5 ppb |
Against other North Carolina systems
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Princeton, Town Of's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 61st percentile in North Carolina and the 30th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Johnston County
46 other systems share Johnston County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Princeton, Town Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Johnston Co-West | 99,027 | 0 (not detected) |
| Clayton, Town Of | 30,876 | 0 (not detected) |
| Johnston Co-East | 25,212 | 0 (not detected) |
| Smithfield, Town Of | 12,900 | 0 (not detected) |
| Flowers Plantation | 12,809 | 0 (not detected) |
| Selma, Town Of | 6,190 | 0 (not detected) |
| Benson, Town Of | 4,802 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Clayton - North | 4,703 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pine Level, Town Of | 2,413 | 1.4 ppb |
| Four Oaks, Town Of | 2,302 | 3 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Princeton, NC 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 Princeton, Town Of 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.