St Elmo, IL
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2025-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
St Elmo serves about 1,272 people through 600 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 Fayette County, Illinois. EPA system ID: IL0510250; phone on file: 618-829-3319. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for St Elmo is 81.5 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 12.7 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 13.6 ppb over 10 |
| 2019 | 18.7 ppb over 15 |
| 2018 | 81.5 ppb over 15 |
Where this result ranks
Of the 1,744 Illinois systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 22 are over 15 ppb right now and 152 have gone over at some point. St Elmo's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 35th percentile in Illinois and the 28th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
8 other systems share Fayette County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than St Elmo. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Vandalia | 7,616 | 3.4 ppb |
| Fayette Water Company | 5,608 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ramsey | 966 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brownstown | 740 | 0 (not detected) |
| Vandalia Correctional Center | 700 | 15 ppb |
| Farina | 540 | 1.6 ppb |
| St Peter | 483 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kaskaskia Springs Water Co. | 1 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; St Elmo, IL 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 St Elmo 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.