Volga, SD
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 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.
Who runs the water here
Volga serves about 2,340 people through 1,082 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 Brookings County, South Dakota. EPA system ID: SD4600346; phone on file: 6056279113. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Volga's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Volga is 4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2018 | 4 ppb |
How Volga compares
Of the 458 South Dakota systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 2 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 6 have gone over at some point. Volga's 2 ppb sits at the 69th percentile in South Dakota and the 72nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
10 other systems share Brookings County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Volga. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Brookings Municipal Utilities | 23,377 | 8 ppb |
| Kingbrook I Rural Water System | 6,455 | 2 ppb |
| Aurora | 1,200 | 2 ppb |
| Elkton | 755 | 4 ppb |
| White | 499 | 2 ppb |
| University Estates | 150 | 0 (not detected) |
| Newdale Colony | 119 | 5 ppb |
| Red Willow Colony | 93 | 0 (not detected) |
| North Brookings Water And Sanitary D | 48 | 3 ppb |
| Southbrook Estates | 28 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Volga, SD
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Volga, SD 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 Volga whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1620 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.