Rice University, TX
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.35 ppb (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 result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Rice University at a glance
Rice University serves about 8,415 people through 75 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Harris County, Texas. EPA system ID: TX1010908; phone on file: 713-348-5050. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Rice University's lead record
That is down 17.75 ppb from 20.1 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Rice University is 20.1 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.35 ppb |
| 2025 | 20.1 ppb over 15 |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2021 | 6.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 8.8 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 4,447 Texas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.28 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 202 have gone over at some point. Rice University's 2.35 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Texas and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
690 other systems share Harris County; 111 of them have a higher latest lead result than Rice University. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Houston | 2,970,543 | 5 ppb |
| City Of Pasadena | 152,000 | 3.72 ppb |
| Clear Lake City Water Authority | 89,702 | 0.88 ppb |
| City Of Baytown | 86,004 | 2.1 ppb |
| City Of Houston Ud 5 - Kingwood | 80,073 | 0.51 ppb |
| Harris County Mud 165 | 40,503 | 1.3 ppb |
| City Of La Porte | 36,569 | 2.35 ppb |
| City Of Deer Park | 34,495 | 0 (not detected) |
| Northwest Harris County Mud 5 | 25,425 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Katy | 25,253 | 2.7 ppb |
Next steps for Houston, TX
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Houston, TX 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 Rice University whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1520 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.