Sterling Wd#3, NY
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2024-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Sterling Wd#3 at a glance
Sterling Wd#3 serves about 130 people through 52 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Cayuga County, New York. EPA system ID: NY0530085. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Sterling Wd#3's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sterling Wd#3 is 7 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 7 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.3 ppb |
Against other New York systems
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 Wd#3's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 8th percentile in New York and the 12th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Cayuga County
31 other systems share Cayuga County; 18 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sterling Wd#3. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Auburn | 27,179 | 1.17 ppb |
| Owasco Water District | 3,000 | 2 ppb |
| Weedsport Village | 2,300 | 1.8 ppb |
| Union Springs Village | 2,000 | 4.2 ppb |
| Moravia Village | 1,950 | 3 ppb |
| Fleming Wd #1 | 1,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sennett Consolidated Water Districts | 1,467 | 2.9 ppb |
| Port Byron Village | 1,400 | 0 (not detected) |
| East Brutus Consolidated Water Districts | 1,287 | 5 ppb |
| Fair Haven Village | 1,001 | 13.8 ppb |
Next steps for Sterling, NY
Look up your address in Sterling Wd#3's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Sterling Wd#3 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.