Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.1 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. 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 Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District
Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District serves about 2,480 people through 992 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 surface water, in Hancock County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0091490; phone on file: 207-244-3948. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District's lead record
That is down 3.8 ppb from 5.9 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District is 5.9 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2021 | 5.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 3.79 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.61 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.48 ppb |
| 2016 | 1.55 ppb |
How Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District compares
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District's 2.1 ppb sits at the 65th percentile in Maine and the 74th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
29 other systems share Hancock County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Town Of Bar Harbor- Water Division | 4,443 | 3.4 ppb |
| Ellsworth Water Department | 3,910 | 4 ppb |
| Maine Water Company Bucksport Division | 1,700 | 2 ppb |
| Mount Desert Water Dist North | 1,623 | 2.48 ppb |
| Castine Water Department | 983 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mount Desert Water Dist -Seal | 865 | 2.77 ppb |
| Winter Harbor Water District | 700 | 1.4 ppb |
| Stonington Water Company | 683 | 1.3 ppb |
| Franklin Water Department | 420 | 3.6 ppb |
| Long Pond Water District | 308 | 4 ppb |
Next steps for Southwest Harbor, ME
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Southwest Harbor, ME 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 Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District 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.