Roan Mountain Utility District, TN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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
Roan Mountain Utility District serves about 1,226 people through 450 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 Carter County, Tennessee. EPA system ID: TN0000584. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Roan Mountain Utility District is 1.87 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.87 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 453 Tennessee systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 10 have gone over at some point. Roan Mountain Utility District's 1 ppb sits at the 31st percentile in Tennessee and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
8 other systems share Carter County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Roan Mountain Utility District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabethton Water Dept | 32,490 | 1 ppb |
| First U.D. Of Carter County | 9,143 | 1 ppb |
| South Elizabethton U.D. | 6,244 | 1 ppb |
| Hampton Utility District | 4,354 | 2.7 ppb |
| Siam Utility District | 3,319 | 0.31 ppb |
| North Elizabethton Water Co-Op | 1,555 | 1 ppb |
| Watauga River Reg Water Auth | 353 | 1 ppb |
| Peters Hollow Water System | 196 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for Roan Mountain, TN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Roan Mountain, TN 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 Roan Mountain Utility 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.