Saint Charles Center, OH
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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
Saint Charles Center serves about 142 people through 2 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Mercer County, Ohio. EPA system ID: OH5401212; phone on file: 419-925-4516. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.4 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Saint Charles Center is 7.22 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 7.22 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,079 Ohio systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.7 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 27 have gone over at some point. Saint Charles Center's 1.4 ppb sits at the 65th percentile in Ohio and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Mercer County
8 other systems share Mercer County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Saint Charles Center. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Celina, City Of | 11,682 | 0 (not detected) |
| Coldwater Village | 4,774 | 0 (not detected) |
| St Henry Village | 2,596 | 2 ppb |
| Ft Recovery Village | 1,501 | 1.8 ppb |
| Rockford Village | 1,120 | 4 ppb |
| Mendon Village | 628 | 1.8 ppb |
| Chickasaw Village | 358 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grand Lake Estates | 103 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Celina, OH 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 Saint Charles Center 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.