Walnut Bayou Water Association, LA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Walnut Bayou Water Association at a glance
Walnut Bayou Water Association serves about 3,531 people through 1,177 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Madison Parish County, Louisiana. EPA system ID: LA1065004; phone on file: 318-574-2463. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Walnut Bayou Water Association is 1.4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
Against other Louisiana systems
Of the 802 Louisiana systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.72 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 30 have gone over at some point. Walnut Bayou Water Association's 1.4 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in Louisiana and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Madison Parish County
3 other systems share Madison Parish County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Walnut Bayou Water Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Tallulah Water System | 8,601 | 2 ppb |
| Bayou Macon Water System | 1,041 | 2 ppb |
| Village Of Delta Water System | 369 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Tallulah, LA 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 Walnut Bayou Water Association 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.