Southwest Rural Water District 1, MO
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.78 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.
Who runs the water here
Southwest Rural Water District 1 serves about 2,700 people through 926 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Barry County, Missouri. EPA system ID: MO5021116; phone on file: 417-835-2105. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1.95 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southwest Rural Water District 1 is 2.34 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.78 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.95 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.95 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.34 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.34 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.13 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.13 ppb |
Against other Missouri systems
Of the 1,674 Missouri systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.04 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 74 have gone over at some point. Southwest Rural Water District 1's 1.78 ppb sits at the 67th percentile in Missouri and the 67th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Barry County
29 other systems share Barry County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southwest Rural Water District 1. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Monett Pws | 9,789 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cassville Pws | 3,290 | 2.09 ppb |
| Purdy Pws | 1,100 | 1.21 ppb |
| Seligman Pws | 890 | 0 (not detected) |
| Exeter Pws | 800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Wheaton Pws | 698 | 3.62 ppb |
| Butterfield Pws | 528 | 0.68 ppb |
| Emerald Beach Village Of Pws | 484 | 0.52 ppb |
| Washburn Pws | 448 | 0.52 ppb |
| Mo American Ozark Mtn Water Company 1 | 350 | 2 ppb |
Next steps for Exeter, MO
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Exeter, MO 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 Rural Water District 1 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.