Sault Ste. Marie lead testing: City hands out water filters in the Andary Avenue subdivision after results top the state limit

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Drinking water at some homes in Sault Ste. Marie’s Andary Avenue subdivision has tested above Michigan’s limit for lead, and the city is delivering water filters to those properties while it searches for the cause, officials said Friday.

The city Water Department and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy notified residents of the neighborhood and began dropping off filters at properties where results exceeded the state limit of 12 parts per billion, according to a news release from the city and the Chippewa County Health Department that SooLeader published.

The city says the problem is confined to that neighborhood. “Lead levels in the rest of the city have continually tested below acceptable levels,” the Water Department said.

Crews are examining the service lines, the pipes that carry water from the street main into each house, at the affected properties to pin down what is driving the readings, the release said. Officials called the filters a precaution while that work goes on, WJMN and WBUP reported.

Residents of the subdivision who have not received a filter yet should use bottled water for now, city officials told the stations.

The release did not say how many homes tested high, when the samples were taken or whether any of the service lines are known to be made of lead. SooLeader reported that it had asked the city’s public works department for more information.

Lead in drinking water is especially dangerous for children and pregnant women, the stations noted. Residents with questions about blood lead levels can call their doctor or the Chippewa County Health Department at (906) 635-3577, according to the release. The state’s lead safety information is at michigan.gov/mileadsafe, and the city posts its annual water quality report, known as the Consumer Confidence Report, on its water treatment plant page.

Sources:
SooLeader, “City working with EGLE to determine cause of elevated lead levels in Andary Avenue subdivision,” Oct. 16, 2026 (city and Chippewa County Health Department news release: EGLE partnership, 12 ppb limit, filters, rest of city below limit, service line investigation, health department number; SooLeader’s request for more information), https://www.sooleader.com/local-news/city-working-with-egle-to-determine-cause-of-elevated-lead-levels-in-andary-avenue-subdivision-12900973
WJMN/WBUP (myupnow.com), Brianna MacLean, “Elevated lead levels detected in Sault Ste. Marie drinking water,” Oct. 16, 2026 (filters as a precaution, bottled water advice, health risks), https://www.myupnow.com/news/elevated-lead-levels-detected-in-sault-ste-marie-drinking-water/article_26d579df-0939-4ff9-a68d-9559fd26e3fd.html
State of Michigan, MI Lead Safe, https://www.michigan.gov/mileadsafe
City of Sault Ste. Marie, Water Treatment Plant (Consumer Confidence Report), https://www.saultcity.com/publicservices/page/water-treatment-plant
Photo: IntangibleArts, “DC WASA lead water main.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_WASA_lead_water_main.jpg

Upper Peninsula

Tags: Upper Peninsula · News · Sault Ste. Marie · Drinking Water · Lead · Public Health · Chippewa County