Ralston Water Treatment Plant, IA
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.
Ralston Water Treatment Plant at a glance
Ralston Water Treatment Plant serves about 75 people through 38 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 Carroll County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA1471069; phone on file: 712-659-2200. 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 (2.2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ralston Water Treatment Plant is 2.2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.2 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Ralston Water Treatment Plant's 1.6 ppb sits at the 53rd percentile in Iowa and the 65th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Carroll County
12 other systems share Carroll County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ralston Water Treatment Plant. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Carroll Municipal Water Supply | 10,321 | 8 ppb |
| West Central Rwa - Nish System | 3,573 | 1.7 ppb |
| Manning Water Supply | 1,392 | 2 ppb |
| Coon Rapids Municipal Utilities | 1,242 | 0 (not detected) |
| Glidden Water Supply | 1,140 | 2.1 ppb |
| Arcadia Water Supply | 525 | 8.4 ppb |
| Breda Water Supply | 502 | 0 (not detected) |
| Templeton Water Supply | 352 | 2.8 ppb |
| Halbur Water Supply | 249 | 4 ppb |
| Dedham Water Supply | 221 | 1 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Glidden, IA 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 Ralston Water Treatment Plant 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.