Scales Mound, IL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.82 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.
Who runs the water here
Scales Mound serves about 436 people through 190 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL0850400; phone on file: 815-281-1003. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Scales Mound's lead record
That is up 4.82 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Scales Mound is 11.7 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.82 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 11.7 ppb over 10 |
| 2018 | 3.29 ppb |
How Scales Mound compares
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. Scales Mound's 4.82 ppb sits at the 87th percentile in Illinois and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
13 other systems share Jo Daviess County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Scales Mound. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Galena | 3,308 | 4.35 ppb |
| Il American-Galena | 2,294 | 11 ppb |
| Stockton | 1,728 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Dubuque | 1,565 | 0 (not detected) |
| Warren | 1,323 | 0 (not detected) |
| Il American-Apple Canyon | 931 | 3.6 ppb |
| Hanover | 863 | 0 (not detected) |
| Elizabeth | 802 | 0 (not detected) |
| Il American-Bahl Water Company | 700 | 2 ppb |
| Mount Vernon Association Inc | 438 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Scales Mound, IL
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Scales Mound, IL 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 Scales Mound 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.