Watts Bar East U.D., TN
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.
Who runs the water here
Watts Bar East U.D. serves about 4,280 people through 1,761 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 Roane County, Tennessee. EPA system ID: TN0000969; phone on file: 865-270-8070. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Watts Bar East U.D.'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 Watts Bar East U.D. is 3.21 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.21 ppb |
| 2018 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.8 ppb |
Against other Tennessee systems
Of the 453 Tennessee systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 0 are over 15 ppb right now and 10 have gone over at some point. Watts Bar East U.D.'s 1 ppb sits at the 42nd percentile in Tennessee and the 55th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Roane County
6 other systems share Roane County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Watts Bar East U.D.. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Harriman Utility Board | 16,653 | 1 ppb |
| Cumberland Utility District | 14,085 | 0.3 ppb |
| Rockwood Water, Sewer & Gas | 11,412 | 1 ppb |
| Kingston Water System | 11,392 | 4.3 ppb |
| Oliver Springs Water Board | 5,361 | 1 ppb |
| Roane Central Utility District | 5,317 | 1 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Kingston, TN 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 Watts Bar East U.D. 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.