Yates W.D. #4, NY
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.8 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2022). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
About Yates W.D. #4
Yates W.D. #4 serves about 1,525 people through 568 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 surface water, in Orleans County, New York. EPA system ID: NY3630017; phone on file: 716-946-2075. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is down 2 ppb from 4.8 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Yates W.D. #4 is 15.6 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.8 ppb |
| 2021 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 15.6 ppb over 15 |
Against other New York systems
Of the 2,077 New York systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.5 ppb; 17 are over 15 ppb right now and 165 have gone over at some point. Yates W.D. #4's 2.8 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in New York and the 80th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Orleans County
20 other systems share Orleans County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Yates W.D. #4. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Medina Village | 6,500 | 6 ppb |
| Albion Village | 6,000 | 4 ppb |
| Mcwa Kendall Water District | 3,000 | - |
| Carlton Water District | 2,800 | - |
| Albion Town | 2,725 | - |
| Ridgeway Town Wd | 2,600 | 1.8 ppb |
| Clarendon Town Wds | 2,482 | 1 ppb |
| Holley Village | 2,150 | 1.3 ppb |
| Gaines Town Wds | 1,898 | - |
| Murray Town North Wds | 1,564 | - |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Lyndonville, NY 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 Yates W.D. #4 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.