Walnut Ridge Waterworks, AR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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.
About Walnut Ridge Waterworks
Walnut Ridge Waterworks serves about 5,823 people through 2,258 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. EPA system ID: AR0000309; phone on file: 870-886-2312. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Walnut Ridge Waterworks's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Walnut Ridge Waterworks is 1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
Against other Arkansas systems
Of the 190 Arkansas systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 19 have gone over at some point. Walnut Ridge Waterworks's 1 ppb sits at the 26th percentile in Arkansas and the 55th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Lawrence County
9 other systems share Lawrence County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Walnut Ridge Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Hoxie Water Department | 2,666 | - |
| Black Rock Waterworks | 1,807 | - |
| Strawberry Waterworks | 1,093 | - |
| Imboden Waterworks | 825 | - |
| Lynn Waterworks | 773 | - |
| Portia Waterworks | 625 | - |
| Ravenden Waterworks | 621 | - |
| Sedgwick Waterworks | 249 | - |
| Alicia Water System | 146 | - |
Next steps for Walnut Ridge, AR
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Walnut Ridge, AR 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 Ridge Waterworks 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.