Slate Springs Water Assn, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.9 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Slate Springs Water Assn serves about 351 people through 140 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Calhoun County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0070018. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Slate Springs Water Assn's lead record
Against the period ending 2023 (1.6 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Slate Springs Water Assn is 1.9 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.4 ppb |
How Slate Springs Water Assn compares
Of the 973 Mississippi systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 44 have gone over at some point. Slate Springs Water Assn's 1.9 ppb sits at the 76th percentile in Mississippi and the 68th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
16 other systems share Calhoun County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Slate Springs Water Assn. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Bruce | 2,798 | 0.9 ppb |
| Mt Comfort W/A-Banner | 2,442 | 0 (not detected) |
| City Of Calhoun City | 2,101 | 1.6 ppb |
| Town Of Vardaman | 1,610 | 14.3 ppb |
| Cross-Roads Water Association | 1,125 | 3.6 ppb |
| Mt Comfort W/A | 1,085 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Pittsboro | 1,077 | 1.9 ppb |
| Mt Comfort W/A-Mt Moriah | 1,011 | 0 (not detected) |
| Town Of Derma | 957 | 0.7 ppb |
| Big Creek Water Association | 731 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Calhoun City, MS 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 Slate Springs Water Assn 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.