Southwest Lauderdale W/A, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 ppb (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. 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.
Southwest Lauderdale W/A at a glance
Southwest Lauderdale W/A serves about 2,724 people through 650 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0380117; phone on file: 601-693-5919. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 3.5 ppb from 1.5 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southwest Lauderdale W/A is 5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.2 ppb |
Against other Mississippi systems
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. Southwest Lauderdale W/A's 5 ppb sits at the 95th percentile in Mississippi and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
12 other systems share Lauderdale County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southwest Lauderdale W/A. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Meridian | 34,466 | 0 (not detected) |
| North Lauderdale W/A, Inc | 10,544 | 2.6 ppb |
| Nts Utility Association | 5,103 | 1.3 ppb |
| Clarkdale Water Assn # 1 | 4,500 | 0.7 ppb |
| Long Creek Water Assn #2 | 3,977 | 0.6 ppb |
| Toomsuba Water Association | 3,828 | 0.5 ppb |
| Collinsville Water Assn | 3,403 | 0 (not detected) |
| Long Creek Water Assn #1 | 2,814 | 0.8 ppb |
| Meridian Naval Air Station | 2,800 | 0.5 ppb |
| Russell Utilities Inc | 2,130 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Meridian, 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 Southwest Lauderdale W/A 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.