Vernon Water Department, IN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 8.58 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.
Who runs the water here
Vernon Water Department serves about 538 people through 215 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 surface water, in Jennings County, Indiana. EPA system ID: IN5240009; phone on file: 812-346-7438. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 7.3 ppb from 1.28 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Vernon Water Department is 8.58 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 8.58 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.28 ppb |
How Vernon Water Department compares
Of the 687 Indiana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.31 ppb; 6 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Vernon Water Department's 8.58 ppb sits at the 97th percentile in Indiana and the 96th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
7 other systems share Jennings County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Vernon Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jennings Water, Inc. | 8,370 | 1.85 ppb |
| North Vernon Water Department | 6,500 | 1.93 ppb |
| Dupont Water Company | 3,865 | 3.26 ppb |
| Jennings Northwest Regional Utility | 2,955 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hayden Water Association | 2,395 | 2.43 ppb |
| Burnt Pines Water Association | 900 | 1.72 ppb |
| Muscatatuck Urban Training Center | 40 | 11.09 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Vernon, IN 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 Vernon Water Department 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.