Velarde Mdwca, NM
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.1 ppb (monitoring period 2016-2018). 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.
Velarde Mdwca at a glance
Velarde Mdwca serves about 543 people through 190 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. EPA system ID: NM3529421; phone on file: 505-852-9710. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Velarde Mdwca is 4.1 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 4.1 ppb |
How Velarde Mdwca compares
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. Velarde Mdwca's 4.1 ppb sits at the 83rd percentile in New Mexico and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Rio Arriba County
40 other systems share Rio Arriba County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Velarde Mdwca. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Espanola Water System | 12,012 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chama Water System | 1,573 | 9.1 ppb |
| Agua Sana Wua | 1,514 | 0 (not detected) |
| El Rito Regional Water & Waste Water Asn | 1,200 | 4.1 ppb |
| Greater Chimayo Mdwca | 1,050 | 2.3 ppb |
| Alcalde Mdwca | 927 | 0.56 ppb |
| Chamita Mdwca | 902 | 0 (not detected) |
| Truchas Mdwca | 629 | 3.1 ppb |
| Dixon Mdwca | 500 | 1.5 ppb |
| Canjilon Water System | 469 | 11 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Velarde, 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 Velarde 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.