Ramah Water & Sanitation District, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.5 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.
Who runs the water here
Ramah Water & Sanitation District serves about 517 people through 152 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 groundwater, in Mckinley County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3508717; phone on file: 505-783-4018. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (1.3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ramah Water & Sanitation District is 1.5 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.3 ppb |
Against other New Mexico systems
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Ramah Water & Sanitation District's 1.5 ppb sits at the 52nd percentile in New Mexico and the 63rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
14 other systems share Mckinley County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ramah Water & Sanitation District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Gallup Water System | 20,880 | 0 (not detected) |
| Gamerco Water & Sanitation | 1,744 | 8.3 ppb |
| Thoreau Water & Sanitation District | 1,173 | 1.2 ppb |
| Yah Ta Hey W & Sd | 435 | 1.4 ppb |
| Whispering Cedars Water Association | 425 | 2 ppb |
| White Cliffs Mdwua | 323 | 2 ppb |
| Top Of The World Water Association Corp | 177 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bluewater Lake Mdwca | 135 | 5.3 ppb |
| Coal Basin Dwua | 116 | 10 ppb |
| D & S Trailer Ranch | 109 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Ramah, NM 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 Ramah Water & Sanitation 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. 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.