Redmond Water Department, OR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.45 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Redmond Water Department serves about 38,208 people through 13,253 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Deschutes County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4100693; phone on file: 541-504-2004. 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 2023 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Redmond Water Department is 0.45 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.45 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Oregon systems
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Redmond Water Department's 0.45 ppb sits at the 40th percentile in Oregon and the 42nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Deschutes County
65 other systems share Deschutes County; 26 of them have a higher latest lead result than Redmond Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bend, City Of | 77,704 | 0 (not detected) |
| Avion Wc - Greater Avion | 35,332 | 0 (not detected) |
| Roats Water System | 6,469 | 0.95 ppb |
| Sunriver Water Llc/Sunriver Utilities | 4,300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sisters, City Of | 3,778 | 1.2 ppb |
| Agate Water System | 3,153 | 0 (not detected) |
| La Pine, City Of | 2,807 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oregon Water Utilities - Cline Butte Inc | 2,526 | 0 (not detected) |
| Water Wonderland Improv Dist 2 | 1,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Terrebonne Domestic Water District | 1,400 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Redmond, OR 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 Redmond Water Department 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.