Saranac Lake V, NY
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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.
Saranac Lake V at a glance
Saranac Lake V serves about 5,345 people through 2,300 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Franklin County, New York. EPA system ID: NY1600011; phone on file: 518-891-4150. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 11.9 ppb from 13 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Saranac Lake V is 18 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2020 | 13 ppb over 10 |
| 2019 | 2.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.7 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 8.9 ppb |
| 2016 | 18 ppb over 15 |
Where this result ranks
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Saranac Lake V's 1.1 ppb sits at the 41st percentile in New York and the 57th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
14 other systems share Franklin County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Saranac Lake V. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Malone V | 13,232 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tupper Lake V | 5,500 | 2.3 ppb |
| Chateaugay V | 1,100 | 2.2 ppb |
| Paul Smiths College | 1,100 | 8.1 ppb |
| St Regis Falls Wd | 980 | 0 (not detected) |
| Fort Covington Wd | 900 | 2.1 ppb |
| Cliffside Apartments | 500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bangor Wd | 375 | 6 ppb |
| Burke V | 273 | 1.1 ppb |
| Thayers Corners Wd | 160 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Saranac Lake, NY 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 Saranac Lake V 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.