Wvaw - The Mountain Water System, WV
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 Wvaw - The Mountain Water System
Wvaw - The Mountain Water System serves about 976 people through 392 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 Jefferson County, West Virginia. EPA system ID: WV3301963; phone on file: 304-347-1510. 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 2022 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Wvaw - The Mountain Water System is 1.7 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2016 | 0.49 ppb |
Against other West Virginia systems
Of the 408 West Virginia systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.9 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 20 have gone over at some point. Wvaw - The Mountain Water System's 1 ppb sits at the 54th percentile in West Virginia and the 54th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
11 other systems share Jefferson County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Wvaw - The Mountain Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Town Utilities | 15,220 | 0.6 ppb |
| Wvaw - Walnut Grove Utilities | 7,250 | 3 ppb |
| Corporation Of Shepherdstown | 4,300 | 1.7 ppb |
| Corporation Of Harpers Ferry | 2,122 | 2.9 ppb |
| Charles Town Utl-Glen Haven Utilities | 195 | 3 ppb |
| Wvaw - Deerfield Village Subdivision | 132 | 2 ppb |
| Wvaw - Cave Quarter Utility | 126 | 1 ppb |
| Charles Town Utl-Cavaland Subdivision | 107 | 2 ppb |
| Leights Mhp | 78 | 0.7 ppb |
| Russells Mhp | 75 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for Charleston, WV
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Charleston, WV 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 Wvaw - The Mountain 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.