Sanborn Water Supply, IA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. 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.
Who runs the water here
Sanborn Water Supply serves about 1,392 people through 699 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 O'Brien County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA7165025; phone on file: 712-930-3842. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Sanborn Water Supply's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sanborn Water Supply is 19.2 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 19.2 ppb over 15 |
| 2019 | 5.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
How Sanborn Water Supply compares
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Sanborn Water Supply's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 25th percentile in Iowa and the 29th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
6 other systems share O'Brien County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sanborn Water Supply. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Sheldon Water Department | 5,512 | 2 ppb |
| Hartley Municipal Water Department | 1,605 | 1.6 ppb |
| Paullina Municipal Water Supply | 996 | 0 (not detected) |
| Primghar Municipal Water Supply | 902 | 3.3 ppb |
| Sutherland Water Supply | 629 | 1.1 ppb |
| Calumet Water Supply | 146 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sanborn, IA 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 Sanborn Water Supply 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.