Rutherford Water Works, TN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.3 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.
Rutherford Water Works at a glance
Rutherford Water Works serves about 1,407 people through 574 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 Gibson County, Tennessee. EPA system ID: TN0000599; phone on file: 731-665-7166. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Rutherford Water Works's lead record
That is up 1.9 ppb from 0.4 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Rutherford Water Works is 2.3 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 0.4 ppb |
| 2019 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.28 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. Rutherford Water Works's 2.3 ppb sits at the 88th percentile in Tennessee and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
12 other systems share Gibson County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Rutherford Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Milan Water Dept | 10,932 | 4.1 ppb |
| Humboldt Utilities-Water Dept | 9,908 | 0.9 ppb |
| Trenton Water System | 5,155 | 0.5 ppb |
| Gibson Co Muni Water Dist #4 | 3,386 | 0.7 ppb |
| Gibson Co Muni Water Dist #5 | 2,864 | 0.4 ppb |
| Dyer Water Dept | 2,783 | 1.4 ppb |
| Gibson Co Muni Water Dist #1 | 2,433 | 0.3 ppb |
| Gibson Co Muni Water Dist #3 | 1,465 | 0.7 ppb |
| Bradford Water System | 1,276 | 0.3 ppb |
| Gibson Water Department | 466 | 0.65 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Rutherford, 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 Rutherford Water Works 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.