Upper Des Montes Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.4 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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 Upper Des Montes Mdwca
Upper Des Montes Mdwca serves about 222 people through 78 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 Taos County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3575029; phone on file: 575-770-6291. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Upper Des Montes Mdwca's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (1.7 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Upper Des Montes Mdwca is 12 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 12 ppb over 10 |
Where this result ranks
Of the 504 New Mexico systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 14 are over 15 ppb right now and 46 have gone over at some point. Upper Des Montes Mdwca's 2.4 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in New Mexico and the 76th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
41 other systems share Taos County; 16 of them have a higher latest lead result than Upper Des Montes Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Taos Municipal Water System | 5,528 | 5 ppb |
| Questa Water System | 2,337 | 3.3 ppb |
| El Prado Water & Sanitation District | 1,076 | 7 ppb |
| Village Of Taos Ski Valley | 1,025 | 2.6 ppb |
| Llano Quemado Mdwca | 800 | 2 ppb |
| Ranchos De Taos Mdwca | 750 | 2.7 ppb |
| Talpa Mdwca | 700 | 2.2 ppb |
| Red River Water System | 679 | - |
| Chamisal Mdwca | 550 | 1.7 ppb |
| Penasco Mdwca | 549 | 5.3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Arroyo Seco, NM 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 Upper Des Montes Mdwca 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.