Rainbow Forest, VA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.74 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.
Rainbow Forest at a glance
Rainbow Forest serves about 1,665 people through 666 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Botetourt County, Virginia. EPA system ID: VA2023480; phone on file: 804-749-8868. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Rainbow Forest's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (2.26 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Rainbow Forest is 3.5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.74 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.26 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.33 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.5 ppb |
How Rainbow Forest compares
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. Rainbow Forest's 1.74 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in Virginia and the 67th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
25 other systems share Botetourt County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Rainbow Forest. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | 2,773 | 2.27 ppb |
| Buchanan, Town Of | 1,220 | 0 (not detected) |
| Fincastle, Town Of | 952 | 0 (not detected) |
| White Oak Estates | 930 | 3.47 ppb |
| Ashley Plantation | 875 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oakwood/Parkview | 630 | 1.13 ppb |
| Troutville, Town Of | 500 | 7.2 ppb |
| Brookfield | 415 | 0 (not detected) |
| Heatherstone/Botetourt Forest | 356 | 0 (not detected) |
| Blue Ridge Heights | 338 | 6 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Rockville, 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 Rainbow Forest 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.