Sumatra Water System, FL
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.5 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. 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
Sumatra Water System serves about 163 people through 65 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 Liberty County, Florida. EPA system ID: FL1394003; phone on file: 850-627-7651. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sumatra Water System is 1.5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
How Sumatra Water System compares
Of the 1,481 Florida systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 3 are over 15 ppb right now and 85 have gone over at some point. Sumatra Water System's 1.5 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Florida and the 63rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Liberty County
7 other systems share Liberty County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Sumatra Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bristol, City Of Water System | 2,688 | 1 ppb |
| Liberty Correctional Institution | 1,800 | 1 ppb |
| Hosford, Town Of Water System | 1,272 | 1 ppb |
| Lake Mystic Water System | 444 | 3 ppb |
| Estiffanulga Water System | 281 | 1 ppb |
| Rock Bluff Water System | 166 | 1.1 ppb |
| Sweetwater Water System | 65 | 0.1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Quincy, FL 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 Sumatra Water System 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.