Sterling Lake, NY
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.59 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). 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.
Sterling Lake at a glance
Sterling Lake serves about 225 people through 44 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Orange County, New York. EPA system ID: NY3512133; phone on file: 845-540-9546. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 2.71 ppb from 7.3 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sterling Lake is 31 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.59 ppb |
| 2022 | 7.3 ppb |
| 2021 | 3.96 ppb |
| 2020 | 8.37 ppb |
| 2020 | 7.79 ppb |
| 2019 | 9.69 ppb |
| 2019 | 11.3 ppb over 10 |
| 2018 | 23.1 ppb over 15 |
| 2017 | 9.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 7 ppb |
| 2016 | 31 ppb over 15 |
Where this result ranks
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Sterling Lake's 4.59 ppb sits at the 84th percentile in New York and the 89th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
129 other systems share Orange County; 24 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sterling Lake. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kiryas Joel | 51,623 | 9 ppb |
| Middletown City | 30,000 | 1 ppb |
| Newburgh City | 29,000 | 1.5 ppb |
| New Windsor Consolidated Wd | 25,667 | 0 (not detected) |
| Newburgh Consolidated Wd | 22,282 | 1.5 ppb |
| Wallkill Consolidated Wd | 18,450 | 1.97 ppb |
| Monroe Village | 12,000 | 3 ppb |
| Woodbury Cons. W.D. | 10,845 | 8.5 ppb |
| Cornwall-On-Hudson | 9,700 | 1 ppb |
| Port Jervis City | 9,000 | 3.04 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; West Nyack, NY 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 Sterling Lake 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.