Salem City, OH
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 9.4 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
Salem City serves about 16,850 people through 6,958 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Columbiana County, Ohio. EPA system ID: OH1502011; phone on file: 330-457-7106. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 4.82 ppb from 4.58 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Salem City is 9.4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 9.4 ppb |
| 2024 | 4.58 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.25 ppb |
| 2020 | 3 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.8 ppb |
Against other Ohio systems
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. Salem City's 9.4 ppb sits at the 99th percentile in Ohio and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
16 other systems share Columbiana County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Salem City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| East Liverpool City | 12,586 | 0.31 ppb |
| Buckeye Water District - Ohio River | 10,300 | 5 ppb |
| Columbiana City Pws | 6,727 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Palestine Village Pws | 4,761 | 4.17 ppb |
| Lisbon Village | 2,821 | 11.1 ppb |
| Leetonia Village Pws | 1,833 | 2.85 ppb |
| New Waterford Village Pws | 1,238 | 2.15 ppb |
| Washingtonville Village Pws | 801 | 2.96 ppb |
| Aqua Ohio - Tomahawk Utilities | 715 | 0 (not detected) |
| Columbiana County-County Home Rd Pws | 200 | 1.43 ppb |
Next steps for New Waterford, OH
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; New Waterford, 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 Salem City 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.