Saluda City Of, NC
Above the new 10 ppb level coming in 2027
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 11 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. Under the current 15 ppb rule this is not an exceedance, but it is above the 10 ppb action level that takes over in Nov 2027. Test your own tap; filter if your result shows lead.
Who runs the water here
Saluda City Of serves about 1,814 people through 714 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 Polk County, North Carolina. EPA system ID: NC0175020; phone on file: 828-749-2581. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Saluda City Of's lead record
That is up 11 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2016. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Saluda City Of is 11 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,925 North Carolina systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 75 have gone over at some point. Saluda City Of's 11 ppb sits at the 99th percentile in North Carolina and the 98th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
5 other systems share Polk County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Saluda City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tryon, Town Of | 5,494 | 0 (not detected) |
| Columbus Town Of | 2,489 | 0 (not detected) |
| Melmont Water System | 127 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brights Creek Water System | 99 | 9 ppb |
| The Brow Condominiums | 96 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Saluda, NC 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 Saluda City Of 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. See what changes at 10 ppb in 2027.