Riverside Mdwa, NM
Above the federal action level
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 17.9 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. In the most recent monitoring period, more than 10% of the sampled homes measured above 15 ppb. Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead for drinking and cooking now, and test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Riverside Mdwa serves about 227 people through 85 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 Eddy County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3520508; phone on file: 575-746-3049. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
That is up 17.9 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Riverside Mdwa is 17.9 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 17.9 ppb over 15 |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2018 | 0.7 ppb |
| 2016 | 13 ppb over 10 |
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. Riverside Mdwa's 17.9 ppb sits at the 98th percentile in New Mexico and the 99th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Eddy County
13 other systems share Eddy County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Riverside Mdwa. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Carlsbad Municipal Water System | 33,626 | 0.73 ppb |
| Artesia Municipal Water System | 15,176 | 1.4 ppb |
| Otis Mdwca | 4,464 | 3 ppb |
| Artesia Rural Water Cooperative | 1,950 | 0.99 ppb |
| Loving Water System | 1,862 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cottonwood Water Mdwca | 1,781 | 2 ppb |
| Malaga Mdwc Swa | 868 | 1 ppb |
| Happy Valley Cooperative Water Works | 638 | 2.6 ppb |
| Morningside Water Users Cooperative | 348 | - |
| Hope Water System | 245 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead on the tap you drink and cook from, now, before you test. Then test your own tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Riverside Mdwa 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.