Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company, CA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.6 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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 Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company
Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company serves about 30 people through 129 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Kern County, California. EPA system ID: CA1500341; phone on file: 661-345-5150. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company's lead record
That is down 5.4 ppb from 8 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company is 8 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 8 ppb |
| 2019 | 0.8 ppb |
| 2016 | 4 ppb |
Against other California systems
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company's 2.6 ppb sits at the 82nd percentile in California and the 78th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Kern County
165 other systems share Kern County; 23 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Cws - Bakersfield | 268,129 | 2.8 ppb |
| Bakersfield, City Of | 171,108 | 1.3 ppb |
| Delano, City Of | 51,428 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oildale Mwc | 45,315 | 0 (not detected) |
| Indian Wells Valley W.D. | 41,474 | 0 (not detected) |
| Tejon Castac Wd - I5 & Laval Rd | 38,125 | 0 (not detected) |
| Antelope Valley E Kern Wtr Agy-Rosamond | 37,634 | - |
| Vaughn Wc Inc | 37,189 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Niles Csd | 32,517 | 1.4 ppb |
| Cws - North Garden | 27,634 | 4.2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Wofford Heights, CA 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 Sierra Bella Mutual Water Company 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.