Sandy Ridge Pump District, DE
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.74 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.
About Sandy Ridge Pump District
Sandy Ridge Pump District serves about 243 people through 70 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Sussex County, Delaware. EPA system ID: DE00A0699; phone on file: 302-242-6485. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2025 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sandy Ridge Pump District is 1 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.74 ppb |
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0.33 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 0.6 ppb |
Against other Delaware systems
Of the 196 Delaware systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.31 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 14 have gone over at some point. Sandy Ridge Pump District's 0.74 ppb sits at the 58th percentile in Delaware and the 47th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
96 other systems share Sussex County; 50 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sandy Ridge Pump District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rehoboth Pump District (Tui) | 81,417 | 0.71 ppb |
| Bethany Bay Pump District | 52,684 | 2.3 ppb |
| Dewey Beach Water Department | 31,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rehoboth Beach Water Department | 25,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Artesian Southern Sussex Regional | 20,145 | 2 ppb |
| Sussex Shores Water Company | 12,450 | 6.9 ppb |
| Bethany Beach Water Department | 12,000 | 4.9 ppb |
| Long Neck Water Company | 11,000 | 1.1 ppb |
| Lewes Board Of Public Works | 9,627 | 21.6 ppb |
| Millsboro Water Department | 8,568 | 5.2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Dover, DE 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 Sandy Ridge Pump District 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.