Syracuse City, NY
Above the new 10 ppb level coming in 2027
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 12 ppb (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. Under the current 15 ppb rule this is not an exceedance, but it is above the 10 ppb action level that takes over in Nov 2027. Test your own tap; filter if your result shows lead.
About Syracuse City
Syracuse City serves about 192,000 people through 45,503 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Onondaga County, New York. EPA system ID: NY3304334; phone on file: 315-448-8005. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Syracuse City's lead record
That is up 3 ppb from 9 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Syracuse City is 70 ppb across 8 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 ppb over 10 |
| 2025 | 9 ppb |
| 2024 | 12 ppb over 10 |
| 2024 | 12 ppb over 10 |
| 2024 | 70 ppb over 15 |
| 2023 | 15 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 15.1 ppb over 15 |
| 2018 | 9.3 ppb |
How Syracuse City compares
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. Syracuse City's 12 ppb sits at the 98th percentile in New York and the 98th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Onondaga County
23 other systems share Onondaga County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Syracuse City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Ocwa | 350,000 | 8 ppb |
| Dewitt Wds - South | 16,200 | 3 ppb |
| Clay Wds | 16,000 | 4 ppb |
| Dewitt Wds - North | 13,600 | 3 ppb |
| Baldwinsville Village | 9,200 | 4 ppb |
| Skaneateles Wds | 3,500 | 3 ppb |
| Skaneateles Village | 2,610 | 3 ppb |
| Elbridge Village | 1,519 | 4 ppb |
| Jordan Village | 1,400 | 4 ppb |
| Tully Village | 930 | 1.1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Syracuse, 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 Syracuse City 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. This system is in the band the 2027 10 ppb rule changes.