Southwest Alabama Water Authority, AL
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Southwest Alabama Water Authority at a glance
Southwest Alabama Water Authority serves about 5,196 people through 1,732 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Monroe County, Alabama. EPA system ID: AL0001426; phone on file: 251-564-2727. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Southwest Alabama Water Authority's lead record
That is down 1.8 ppb from 1.8 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southwest Alabama Water Authority is 1.8 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.5 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 542 Alabama systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 1 are over 15 ppb right now and 11 have gone over at some point. Southwest Alabama Water Authority's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 33rd percentile in Alabama and the 35th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
6 other systems share Monroe County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southwest Alabama Water Authority. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Monroeville, Water Works Bd. Of City Of | 9,885 | 1.4 ppb |
| Excel, Town Of | 3,600 | 0 (not detected) |
| Uriah Water System | 3,420 | 1.5 ppb |
| Mexia Water System, Inc. | 2,532 | 1.1 ppb |
| Frisco City Water System | 2,100 | 1.9 ppb |
| Beatrice, Town Of | 1,485 | 6.8 ppb |
Your move
Look up your address in Southwest Alabama Water Authority's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Southwest Alabama Water Authority 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.