Ward Nine Water System, AR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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.
About Ward Nine Water System
Ward Nine Water System serves about 465 people through 155 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Claiborne Parish County, Arkansas. EPA system ID: LA1027013; phone on file: 870-843-0168. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Ward Nine Water System's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Ward Nine Water System is 2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
How Ward Nine Water System compares
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. Ward Nine Water System's 1 ppb sits at the 2nd percentile in Arkansas and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Next steps for Junction City, AR
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Junction City, 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 Ward Nine Water System 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.