Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc., IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.6 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc. serves about 300 people through 92 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Dubuque County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA3170335; phone on file: 563-543-0354. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc.'s lead record
Against the period ending 2020 (4.8 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc. is 4.8 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.7 ppb |
Against other Iowa systems
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc.'s 4.6 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in Iowa and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Dubuque County
29 other systems share Dubuque County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc.. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Dubuque Water Works | 59,667 | 5 ppb |
| Asbury Municipal Water System | 5,943 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dyersville Municipal Water Co | 4,477 | 1.7 ppb |
| Cascade Municipal Water Supply | 2,386 | 0 (not detected) |
| Peosta Water Supply | 2,278 | 0.5 ppb |
| Epworth Water Supply | 2,023 | 5.75 ppb |
| Farley Water Supply | 1,766 | 1.3 ppb |
| Alpine Park | 932 | 4.6 ppb |
| Table Mound Park | 455 | 0 (not detected) |
| New Vienna Water Supply | 382 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Epworth, IA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Epworth, IA 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 Thunder Hills Home & Utility Assoc. 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.