Winter Harbor Water District, ME
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 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.
Winter Harbor Water District at a glance
Winter Harbor Water District serves about 700 people through 280 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Hancock County, Maine. EPA system ID: ME0091630; phone on file: 207-963-7703. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2020 (2.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Winter Harbor Water District is 2.4 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.4 ppb |
How Winter Harbor Water District compares
Of the 358 Maine systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 40 have gone over at some point. Winter Harbor Water District's 1.4 ppb sits at the 49th percentile in Maine and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
29 other systems share Hancock County; 16 of them have a higher latest lead result than Winter Harbor Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Town Of Bar Harbor- Water Division | 4,443 | 3.4 ppb |
| Ellsworth Water Department | 3,910 | 4 ppb |
| Southwest Harbor Water & Sewer District | 2,480 | 2.1 ppb |
| Maine Water Company Bucksport Division | 1,700 | 2 ppb |
| Mount Desert Water Dist North | 1,623 | 2.48 ppb |
| Castine Water Department | 983 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mount Desert Water Dist -Seal | 865 | 2.77 ppb |
| Stonington Water Company | 683 | 1.3 ppb |
| Franklin Water Department | 420 | 3.6 ppb |
| Long Pond Water District | 308 | 4 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Winter Harbor, ME 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 Winter Harbor Water District 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.