Sistersville Municipal Water, WV
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.3 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2024). 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.
Sistersville Municipal Water at a glance
Sistersville Municipal Water serves about 1,892 people through 926 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Tyler County, West Virginia. EPA system ID: WV3304803; phone on file: 304-652-6361. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2023 (1.5 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sistersville Municipal Water is 3.8 ppb across 20 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.79 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.79 ppb |
| 2020 | 0.79 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.8 ppb |
How Sistersville Municipal Water compares
Of the 408 West Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.9 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 20 have gone over at some point. Sistersville Municipal Water's 2.3 ppb sits at the 79th percentile in West Virginia and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
3 other systems share Tyler County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sistersville Municipal Water. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tyler County Psd | 3,195 | 4.9 ppb |
| Middlebourne Water Works | 1,267 | 0.51 ppb |
| Bens Run Industrial Park Water System | 673 | 5.1 ppb |
Next steps for New Martinsville, WV
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; New Martinsville, WV 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 Sistersville Municipal Water 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.