Sehmel Road, WA
Above the new 10 ppb level coming in 2027
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 11 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Under the current 15 ppb rule this is not an exceedance, but it is above the 10 ppb action level that takes over in Nov 2027. Test your own tap; filter if your result shows lead.
Who runs the water here
Sehmel Road serves about 42 people through 16 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Pierce County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5320481. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
That is up 9.3 ppb from 1.7 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sehmel Road is 11 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2018 | 4.9 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Sehmel Road's 11 ppb sits at the 98th percentile in Washington and the 98th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
226 other systems share Pierce County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sehmel Road. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tacoma Water Division City Of | 446,245 | 0 (not detected) |
| Puyallup City Of | 94,520 | 2.7 ppb |
| Lakewood Water District | 82,425 | 1.1 ppb |
| Southwood | 64,155 | 1.6 ppb |
| Bonney Lake Water Department City | 43,371 | 2.4 ppb |
| Firgrove Mutual Inc | 36,168 | 2.9 ppb |
| Jblm Lewis | 35,414 | 0 (not detected) |
| Spanaway Water Company | 34,506 | 2.4 ppb |
| Parkland Light & Water Company | 33,775 | 2.4 ppb |
| Fife Dept Of Public Works | 29,091 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Tacoma, WA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Tacoma, WA 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 Sehmel Road 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. See what changes at 10 ppb in 2027.