For Central Florida homes on city water, the utility lead numbers are low. Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) reports a 90th percentile lead result of 2 ppb, with no sampling site above the EPA Action Level of 15 ppb, and states that its system contains no lead service lines. Toho Water Authority, which serves Kissimmee, St. Cloud and Poinciana, reports 90th percentile results of 0.4 to 2.1 ppb across its systems and did not identify lead service lines in its 2024 inventory. The remaining risk sits inside older homes: lead solder and brass fixtures in plumbing installed before the 1986 federal ban. A test at your own tap is the only way to know.
(Sources: OUC 2025 Water Quality Report, https://www.ouc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_Water-Quality-Report-2026-05.pdf; Toho Water Authority 2025 Water Quality Reports, https://www.tohowater.com/waterquality; U.S. EPA, Lead and Copper Rule, https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/lead-and-copper-rule)
Concerned about lead or other contaminants in your home's water? Pure Agua Enterprises offers free in-home water testing across Central Florida. Schedule your free water test.
How the EPA Lead and Copper Rule Monitoring Works
The Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), first enacted in 1991 and substantially revised in 2021 under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), is the federal regulation that requires public water systems to monitor for lead and copper at customer taps. Understanding how this monitoring works is essential for interpreting what the compliance data actually means.
The 90th percentile method. Utilities do not test a single tap and report the result. Instead, they collect samples from a set of "tier 1" sites: homes most likely to have lead in their plumbing, such as pre-1986 construction or buildings known to have lead service lines. Samples are collected using first-draw methodology, meaning water that has sat in the pipes for at least six hours is tested before the tap is run. From that set of samples, the utility calculates the 90th percentile result: the value at which 90 percent of samples fall at or below. A 90th percentile lead result of 2 ppb means that nine out of ten sampled sites tested at or below 2 ppb.
The Action Level is not a health limit. The EPA Action Level for lead is 15 ppb. When a utility's 90th percentile result exceeds this threshold, the utility is required to take specific corrective actions, including public notification, increased monitoring, and in some cases service line replacement. It is important to understand what the Action Level is not: it is not a safe exposure threshold. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that there is no safe level of lead exposure in children. (Source: CDC, Lead Poisoning Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/lead/default.html) The Action Level is a regulatory trigger, not a health certification. A utility testing at 14 ppb is technically in compliance; a utility testing at 2 ppb is in substantially better shape.
What "no violations" actually means. A water system can have zero Lead and Copper Rule violations on record and still have individual taps in older homes testing above 15 ppb. The 90th percentile monitoring is designed to characterize the system, not to guarantee every tap in every home. This is why home construction date, plumbing age, and fixture type matter independently of utility compliance status.
The 2021 LCRR and lead service line inventories. The 2021 Lead and Copper Rule Revisions required all community water systems to complete and submit an initial lead service line inventory to their state primacy agency by October 16, 2024. (Source: Florida DEP, Lead Service Line Inventory, https://floridadep.gov/water/source-drinking-water/content/lead-service-line-inventory-0) A lead service line (LSL) is a pipe connecting the water main to a building that is made fully or partially of lead. These are the most significant source of lead exposure in cities with older infrastructure. Florida's requirement that utilities report their LSL inventory is part of the national push to identify and ultimately replace these pipes wherever they exist.
What the Monitoring Data Shows for Central Florida's Major Utilities
The table below shows lead monitoring results from the 2025 water quality reports of the two utilities that serve most of Orlando, Kissimmee and St. Cloud. Kissimmee's drinking water comes from Toho Water Authority; Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) is the city's electric utility.
| Utility | Service Area | 90th Pct. Lead Result | Action Level (15 ppb) | AL Exceedance | Lead Service Lines | Data Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) | City of Orlando, portions of Orange County | 2 ppb | 15 ppb | No | None (OUC states its system contains no lead service lines) | 07/23 sampling, 2025 report |
| Toho Water Authority, Eastern Water System (Central report) | Kissimmee area | 0.6 ppb | 15 ppb | No | None identified (2024 inventory) | 01/23 to 03/23 sampling, 2025 report |
| Toho Water Authority, Poinciana Water System (Southern report) | Poinciana | 0.6 ppb | 15 ppb | No | None identified (2024 inventory) | 06/25 sampling, 2025 report |
| Toho Water Authority, City of St. Cloud Water System | St. Cloud | 1.8 ppb | 15 ppb | No | None identified (2024 inventory) | 2024 sampling, 2025 report |
Sources: OUC 2025 Water Quality Report (https://www.ouc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_Water-Quality-Report-2026-05.pdf); Toho Water Authority 2025 Central, Southern and St. Cloud Water Quality Reports (https://www.tohowater.com/waterquality).
Reading the OUC result. OUC's 90th percentile lead result of 2 ppb comes from tap sampling in July 2023, reported in its 2025 Water Quality Report. The range of individual results was not detected to 10 ppb, and no site exceeded the 15 ppb Action Level. OUC states that its water is lead-free and that its system contains no lead service lines. Utilities with consistently low results sample less often, which is why a 2023 sampling round appears in the 2025 report.
Reading the Toho entries. Toho publishes five 2025 reports, one for each of its service areas: Central, Eastern, Southern, St. Cloud and Western. The Central report (Eastern Water System) shows a 90th percentile lead result of 0.6 ppb, the Southern report (Poinciana Water System) 0.6 ppb, and the St. Cloud report 1.8 ppb. The Western report shows 0.4 ppb (Western Water System) and 2.1 ppb (Hidden Glen), and the Eastern report shows 0.8 ppb (Harmony) and 0.5 and 0.4 ppb for two Sunbridge sampling rounds, so the range of 90th percentile results across all Toho systems is 0.4 to 2.1 ppb. No sampling site exceeded the Action Level in the Central, Southern, St. Cloud or Western reports; the Sunbridge results list one site above it, with a highest reading of 18 ppb. Toho states that its 2024 service line inventory did not identify lead service lines. Use the address map on Toho's Water Quality Reports page to find the report for your home.
Why Florida's Infrastructure Profile Is Different From Rust-Belt States
The national concern about lead in drinking water is legitimate and documented. The crisis in Flint, Michigan exposed what happens when corrosion control practices break down in systems with widespread lead service lines. Cities across the Midwest and Northeast built their water distribution systems in the late 19th and early 20th century, when lead was a standard material for service lines. The American Water Works Association estimated in 2016 that approximately 6.1 million lead service lines remained in U.S. distribution systems at that time. (Source: AWWA, https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/AWWA/Government/AWWAWhitePaperLeadServiceLineReplacement.pdf)
Central Florida's water infrastructure does not share that history. The region's significant residential development happened largely after World War II, and accelerated particularly from the 1960s onward, well after the engineering community had moved away from lead service lines in new construction. Orlando's population grew from roughly 52,000 in 1950 to over 300,000 by 1990, and the Kissimmee and Osceola County growth wave followed a similar post-1960 trajectory. This means the distribution infrastructure serving most Central Florida homes was built after lead service lines had already become uncommon in new construction.
This is why OUC's system-wide inventory found no lead service lines. It is not that OUC removed them: it is that they largely were never installed in the service territory that grew with the region's post-1960 expansion.
The 1986 federal Safe Drinking Water Act amendments banned the use of lead solder and lead-containing materials in new plumbing for public water systems and buildings connected to them. Any home built or substantially replumbed after 1986 should not have lead solder in its household plumbing. In Central Florida, where a large share of the housing stock was built after 1986, this significantly limits the exposure pathways compared to older cities.
However, Florida's profile is not uniformly favorable. The state does have neighborhoods and housing stock from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. Any home built before the 1986 federal ban has plumbing that may include lead solder at pipe joints. This is not a system-level issue; it is a household-level one, and it is not reflected in utility-level 90th percentile sampling unless the sample sites happen to include those homes.
When Lead IS a Real Concern in Central Florida Homes
The data above describes the utility's water as it leaves the treatment plant and moves through the distribution system. By the time that water reaches a faucet in an older home, the story may be different. The most significant lead exposure risks in Central Florida are from household plumbing, not from the utility's mains.
Homes built before 1986. Any home constructed before the 1986 federal ban on lead solder used lead-containing solder at pipe joints throughout its plumbing system. Lead solder is an alloy historically used to seal copper pipe fittings. When water, especially soft or corrosive water, sits in contact with lead-soldered joints, it can leach small amounts of lead. The risk is highest when water has been sitting in pipes for several hours, such as after overnight stagnation.
Homes built between 1986 and 1996. The 1986 federal ban applied to "lead-free" materials, but the legal definition of "lead-free" at the time allowed up to 8 percent lead in solder and up to 8 percent lead in brass fittings. (Source: U.S. EPA, Lead in Drinking Water, https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water) The Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act of 2011, signed into law in 2014, tightened the definition of "lead-free" to no more than 0.25 percent weighted average lead content for pipes, fittings, and fixtures. Homes built between 1986 and 2014 may still have fixtures that were legal at the time but contain more lead than today's standards allow.
Older fixtures and brass faucets. Leaded brass was a common material for faucets, valves, and fittings through much of the 20th century. A home that was built with modern copper plumbing but retains original faucets and fixtures from the 1970s or 1980s may still have brass components with meaningful lead content. Kitchen and bathroom faucets are common leach points.
Galvanized steel pipes. Some older Central Florida homes, particularly those built before the widespread adoption of copper plumbing in residential construction, have galvanized steel supply lines. Galvanized pipes do not contain lead themselves, but they can accumulate lead deposits from corrosion products over time. If such pipes were ever connected to lead-containing plumbing downstream, lead particles can be trapped in the corrosion scale and released into the water.
The first-draw risk. Regardless of whether a utility tests at 2 ppb or 10 ppb at the 90th percentile, the lead concentration in the first liter from a faucet that has sat overnight in an older home's plumbing can be substantially higher than the utility's monitored result. This is why the EPA historically recommended flushing the tap for 30 to 60 seconds before using water for drinking or cooking if a home has any of the risk factors listed above. Running the tap until the water is noticeably cooler indicates the household plumbing has been flushed and water from the main is reaching the tap.
How to Test Your Home's Water for Lead
The only way to know the actual lead concentration at a specific tap in a specific home is to test it. Utility-level CCR data is useful context but does not tell you what is happening inside your own plumbing.
Free in-home water test. Pure Agua Enterprises offers a free in-home water test in Kissimmee, Orlando, St. Cloud and the surrounding Central Florida communities. A test at your tap accounts for your specific plumbing configuration, your home's age, and any fixture-specific leaching that utility monitoring cannot capture. Schedule your free test here.
What to look for in a test. A lead test for drinking water should use a certified laboratory following EPA Method 200.8 or an equivalent method. The EPA recommends first-draw sampling: water that has sat in the pipes for at least six hours. If your concern is a specific tap, such as the kitchen faucet used for drinking water, a first-draw sample from that tap gives the most directly relevant result.
Context from existing data. If your home was built after 1996 and has had its original fixtures updated in the last decade, your lead risk from household plumbing is relatively low. If your home was built before 1986, or if you are unsure of its plumbing history, testing before making filtration decisions is a reasonable step. This is consistent with the EPA's own guidance that residents of older homes should test their water for lead.
See our related article on overall Kissimmee and Orlando water quality for a broader picture of what Central Florida utilities report across all regulated contaminants.
What Whole-House Filtration and Reverse Osmosis Remove
Once lead exposure from household plumbing is established or suspected, filtration is an evidence-based intervention at the point of use.
Reverse osmosis (RO) systems. A reverse osmosis system certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for lead reduction is the most widely documented residential technology for removing lead from drinking water at the kitchen tap. The RO membrane physically rejects dissolved lead ions along with most other heavy metals, nitrates, and many other contaminants. An NSF/ANSI 58 certified system has been independently tested and verified to achieve the lead reduction claimed on its certification. The reverse osmosis systems Pure Agua Enterprises installs meet NSF/ANSI Standard 58.
Whole-house lead reduction. For households with older plumbing throughout, or those wanting whole-house protection, a whole-house filtration system using an NSF/ANSI 53 certified lead-reduction filter provides coverage at every tap in the home, not just the kitchen sink. NSF/ANSI Standard 53 certifies health-effects reduction, including lead, at the filter cartridge level. This is a more comprehensive approach when the plumbing risk is distributed through the house rather than concentrated at a single fixture.
What filtration does not do. Filtration at the point of use addresses lead from the household plumbing between the filter and the faucet it serves. It does not retroactively improve the condition of lead-soldered joints upstream of the filter in the main plumbing run. For a kitchen under-sink RO system, the protection covers drinking and cooking water drawn from that specific filtered tap. Plumbing runs to other fixtures, including showers and bathroom sinks, would require separate treatment or a whole-house system.
Chlorine and your filter choice. OUC treats its water with ozone and then chlorine, and states that it does not use chloramines. Toho Water Authority adds chlorine in most of its systems. A well-designed RO system with carbon pre-filtration handles chlorine and lead at the same tap. For hardness and disinfectant by utility, see our article on Central Florida water hardness by utility.
For a broader picture of regulated and unregulated contaminants in this region, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), see our article on PFAS contamination in Central Florida drinking water.
Get a free in-home water test. Pure Agua Enterprises is a family-owned company in Kissimmee, open since 2016. We are a Water Quality Association (WQA) member, the systems we install meet NSF/ANSI Standards 58 and 61, and we hold a 5.0-star rating from more than 200 Google reviews. We serve Kissimmee, Orlando, St. Cloud and the rest of Central Florida; see our service area. Schedule your free water test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does Orlando tap water have lead?
OUC's 2025 Water Quality Report shows a 90th percentile lead result of 2 ppb, well below the EPA's 15 ppb Action Level. OUC states that its system contains no lead service lines. The utility is in compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule. Lead exposure risk in the Orlando area is primarily associated with household plumbing in pre-1986 homes rather than with the utility's distribution system. Testing the water at your specific tap is the only way to know the lead concentration in your home.
Q: Are there lead pipes in Kissimmee water?
Kissimmee's drinking water comes from Toho Water Authority. Toho states that its 2024 service line inventory did not identify lead service lines in its service area, and its 2025 reports show 90th percentile lead results of 0.4 to 2.1 ppb across its systems. The more relevant question for most Kissimmee homeowners is whether their own plumbing contains lead solder: any home built before 1986 may, whatever the utility uses for its mains.
Q: What is the EPA Action Level for lead in drinking water?
The EPA Lead and Copper Rule sets the Action Level for lead at 15 parts per billion (ppb). When a utility's 90th percentile sample result exceeds 15 ppb, the utility must take corrective action including public notification and, depending on the situation, corrosion control treatment and lead service line replacement. The Action Level is a regulatory trigger, not a health threshold. The EPA and CDC state that no safe level of lead exposure has been established, particularly for children.
Q: How do I know if my Central Florida home has lead plumbing?
The most reliable indicators are your home's construction date and plumbing history. Homes built before 1986 are most likely to have lead solder at copper pipe joints. Homes built before 1950 may have original lead service lines from the street, though this is uncommon in Central Florida given the region's development timeline. A first-draw water test from your kitchen tap is the direct way to measure actual lead concentration at the point of use.
Q: Does reverse osmosis remove lead from drinking water?
Yes. A reverse osmosis system certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for lead reduction has been independently tested to achieve documented lead removal at the point of use. The RO membrane physically rejects dissolved lead ions. For Central Florida households with pre-1986 plumbing or concerns about fixture-level leaching, a point-of-use RO system at the kitchen sink is one of the most effective interventions available. The reverse osmosis systems Pure Agua Enterprises installs meet NSF/ANSI Standard 58.
Q: Where can I find my utility's Consumer Confidence Report?
Every public water system is required by the EPA to publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). OUC's report is linked from ouc.com/about/water-services. Toho Water Authority's reports are at tohowater.com/waterquality. The EPA's Consumer Confidence Report database and the Florida DEP drinking water search tool also index CCRs by system name. Look for the "Lead and Copper" or "Lead" section, which will show the most recent 90th percentile result and whether any Action Level exceedance occurred during the monitoring period.
Sources
- U.S. EPA, Lead and Copper Rule: https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/lead-and-copper-rule
- U.S. EPA, Lead in Drinking Water (basic information): https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water
- U.S. EPA, Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS): https://sdwis.epa.gov/ords/sfdw/f?p=108:1
- CDC, Lead Poisoning Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/lead/default.html
- Florida DEP, Lead Service Line Inventory: https://floridadep.gov/water/source-drinking-water/content/lead-service-line-inventory-0
- OUC, 2025 Water Quality Report: https://www.ouc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025_Water-Quality-Report-2026-05.pdf
- AWWA, Lead Service Line Replacement White Paper: https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/AWWA/Government/AWWAWhitePaperLeadServiceLineReplacement.pdf
- Toho Water Authority, 2025 Water Quality Reports: https://www.tohowater.com/waterquality
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