Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew, MI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.1 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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 Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew
Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew serves about 26,780 people through 10,712 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Berrien County, Michigan. EPA system ID: MI0003726. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
That is down 1.5 ppb from 2.6 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew is 2.6 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 2.1 ppb |
Against other Michigan systems
Of the 1,227 Michigan systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 31 are over 15 ppb right now and 109 have gone over at some point. Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew's 1.1 ppb sits at the 51st percentile in Michigan and the 58th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
34 other systems share Berrien County; 20 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southwest Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Niles | 14,215 | 2 ppb |
| Benton Harbor | 9,103 | 0.8 ppb |
| St Joseph | 7,930 | 4 ppb |
| Benton Charter Township | 6,768 | 0 (not detected) |
| Buchanan | 4,871 | 3 ppb |
| Lake Charter Township | 4,177 | 1.5 ppb |
| Andrews University | 3,000 | 1 ppb |
| New Buffalo Township | 2,845 | 2 ppb |
| Chikaming Township | 2,825 | 1.51 ppb |
| Watervliet | 2,735 | 0.8 ppb |
Next steps for St. Joseph, MI
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; St. Joseph, MI 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 Michigan Regional Sanitary Sew 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.