Upper Kula, HI
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.7 ppb (monitoring period 2017-2019). 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 Kula
Upper Kula serves about 7,686 people through 2,346 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Maui County, Hawaii. EPA system ID: HI0000215; phone on file: 808-270-7834. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Upper Kula's lead record
That is up 1.7 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2016. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Upper Kula is 1.7 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 112 Hawaii systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 1 have gone over at some point. Upper Kula's 1.7 ppb sits at the 96th percentile in Hawaii and the 66th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Maui County
34 other systems share Maui County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Upper Kula. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Wailuku | 74,511 | 0 (not detected) |
| Makawao | 29,868 | 0.88 ppb |
| Lahaina | 20,065 | 0.78 ppb |
| Kaanapali | 8,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kapalua | 4,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Kaunakakai | 3,702 | 0.77 ppb |
| Lower Kula | 3,522 | 3.7 ppb |
| Lanai City | 3,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hoolehua | 2,400 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hana | 1,284 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Wailuku, HI
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Wailuku, HI 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 Kula 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.