Sanford Water System, AL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 0.8 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Sanford Water System serves about 498 people through 170 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Covington County, Alabama. EPA system ID: AL0000384; phone on file: 334-222-0380. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Sanford Water System's lead record
Against the period ending 2023 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sanford Water System is 5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
How Sanford Water System compares
Of the 542 Alabama systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 11 have gone over at some point. Sanford Water System's 0.8 ppb sits at the 60th percentile in Alabama and the 48th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Covington County
9 other systems share Covington County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sanford Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusia, Utilities Board Of | 15,251 | 2.9 ppb |
| Covington County Water Authority | 13,224 | 2.2 ppb |
| Opp Utilities Board | 10,266 | 3.3 ppb |
| Florala Water Works & Sewer Board | 3,834 | 0.54 ppb |
| River Falls Water System | 1,050 | 1.8 ppb |
| Red Level Water Works | 855 | 3.5 ppb |
| Gantt Water System | 801 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lockhart Water Works | 726 | 2.5 ppb |
| Heath Water System | 450 | 1.7 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Andalusia, AL 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 Sanford Water System 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.