Wake Forest Water Assn, MS
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.4 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Wake Forest Water Assn serves about 571 people through 246 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is under mixed public and private ownership and draws groundwater, in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. EPA system ID: MS0530025; phone on file: 662-465-6499. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2019 (3.5 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Wake Forest Water Assn is 3.5 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.5 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 973 Mississippi systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 9 are over 15 ppb right now and 44 have gone over at some point. Wake Forest Water Assn's 3.4 ppb sits at the 91st percentile in Mississippi and the 85th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Oktibbeha County
23 other systems share Oktibbeha County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Wake Forest Water Assn. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Starkville | 32,027 | 1.7 ppb |
| Ms State University | 15,000 | 1.6 ppb |
| Clayton Village W/A #1-East | 4,984 | 3.31 ppb |
| Oktoc Water Association #1 | 2,587 | 1.3 ppb |
| Adaton W/A #1-Josey Creek | 2,170 | 1.5 ppb |
| Talking Warrior Water Assn #1 | 1,539 | 0 (not detected) |
| Chapel Hill-Pleasant Grove W/A | 1,175 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sessums Water Association | 1,117 | 0.9 ppb |
| Black Jack Water Assn #1 | 1,024 | 0.5 ppb |
| Rock Hill Water Association | 915 | 1.7 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sturgis, MS 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 Wake Forest Water Assn 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.