Salem Water Board, WV
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
About Salem Water Board
Salem Water Board serves about 1,630 people through 766 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 surface water, in Harrison County, West Virginia. EPA system ID: WV3301720; phone on file: 304-782-1318. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 1.3 ppb from 2.6 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Salem Water Board is 60.7 ppb across 15 monitoring periods, 3 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.9 ppb |
| 2021 | 0.98 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 3 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 15.8 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 4.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 15.8 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 60.7 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 3.8 ppb |
Against other West Virginia systems
Of the 408 West Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.9 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 20 have gone over at some point. Salem Water Board's 1.3 ppb sits at the 64th percentile in West Virginia and the 61st nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Harrison County
19 other systems share Harrison County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Salem Water Board. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Clarksburg Water Board | 19,072 | 1.3 ppb |
| Bridgeport City Of | 11,158 | 0.27 ppb |
| Shinnston City Of | 4,959 | 1.17 ppb |
| Greater Harrison Psd Lost Creek Mt Clare | 3,536 | 0.26 ppb |
| Sun Valley Psd | 2,905 | 0.75 ppb |
| Greater Harrison Psd Valley Of Good Hope | 2,744 | 0.46 ppb |
| Shortline Psd | 2,727 | 0 (not detected) |
| Greater Harrison Psd - Quiet Dell | 2,328 | 0 (not detected) |
| Stonewood City Of | 2,236 | 1.6 ppb |
| Enlarged Hepzibah Psd | 1,937 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Salem, WV 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 Water Board 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.