University Of Rhode Island, RI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6.4 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. 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.
About University Of Rhode Island
University Of Rhode Island serves about 19,354 people through 165 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by the state and draws groundwater, in Washington County, Rhode Island. EPA system ID: RI1858422; phone on file: 401-874-7896. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
University Of Rhode Island's lead record
That is up 3.4 ppb from 3 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for University Of Rhode Island is 6.4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6.4 ppb |
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2021 | 4.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 3.1 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 78 Rhode Island systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.1 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 17 have gone over at some point. University Of Rhode Island's 6.4 ppb sits at the 88th percentile in Rhode Island and the 94th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
32 other systems share Washington County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than University Of Rhode Island. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Westerly Water Department | 35,298 | 3.6 ppb |
| North Kingstown Town Of | 27,732 | 1.3 ppb |
| Veolia Water Wakefield Rhode Island Inc | 21,225 | 3.2 ppb |
| Block Island Water Company | 9,999 | 0 (not detected) |
| Narragansett Water System-Point Judith | 8,210 | 4.1 ppb |
| South Kingstown-South Shore | 6,170 | 1 ppb |
| Narragansett Water Dept-North End | 4,432 | 1.2 ppb |
| Kingston Water District | 3,968 | 1 ppb |
| Richmond, Town Of | 2,671 | 0.3 ppb |
| South Kingstown-Middlebridge | 694 | 1 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Kingston, RI 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 University Of Rhode Island 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.