Ranch Headquarters, MT
Lead reported as not detected
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 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Ranch Headquarters serves about 85 people through 27 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Park County, Montana. EPA system ID: MT0003199; phone on file: 406-848-9200. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Ranch Headquarters's lead record
Against the period ending 2025 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ranch Headquarters is 14 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (2 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2024 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 14 ppb over 10 |
| 2018 | 14 ppb over 10 |
| 2016 | 4 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 753 Montana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 28 have gone over at some point. Ranch Headquarters's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 16th percentile in Montana and the 8th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Park County
14 other systems share Park County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Ranch Headquarters. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Livingston City Of | 9,200 | 2 ppb |
| Gardiner Park Co Water Dist | 700 | 2 ppb |
| Clyde Park Water Dept | 300 | 2.49 ppb |
| Cooke City Water District | 300 | 2 ppb |
| Wilsall Water District | 250 | 2 ppb |
| East Gate Work Camp | 208 | 0 (not detected) |
| Golden Age Village | 180 | 1 ppb |
| Cinnabar The | 175 | 15 ppb |
| Avalon Subdivision | 135 | 0.44 ppb |
| Windmill Trailer Park Well 2 | 125 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Look up your address in Ranch Headquarters's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Ranch Headquarters 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.