Amherst Dpw Water Division, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 8 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
Amherst Dpw Water Division at a glance
Amherst Dpw Water Division serves about 39,263 people through 6,437 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1008000; phone on file: 4132593050. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 5.4 ppb from 13.4 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Amherst Dpw Water Division is 13.4 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 ppb |
| 2024 | 13.4 ppb over 10 |
| 2023 | 8.8 ppb |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 7.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 5.4 ppb |
How Amherst Dpw Water Division compares
Of the 535 Massachusetts systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.7 ppb; 13 are over 15 ppb right now and 66 have gone over at some point. Amherst Dpw Water Division's 8 ppb sits at the 93rd percentile in Massachusetts and the 96th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
27 other systems share Hampshire County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Amherst Dpw Water Division. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Northampton Water Division | 29,571 | 1.2 ppb |
| Easthampton Water Dept | 16,211 | 2.5 ppb |
| South Hadley Fd #1 (Mwra) | 14,800 | 4 ppb |
| Ware Water Dept | 10,066 | 4.7 ppb |
| South Hadley Fire District #2 Water Dept | 6,200 | 5.3 ppb |
| Southampton Water Dept | 4,853 | 4.1 ppb |
| Hadley Dpw Water Division | 4,819 | 4.6 ppb |
| Belchertown Water District | 3,253 | 3 ppb |
| Hatfield Water Dept | 3,164 | 23.1 ppb |
| Huntington Water Dept | 2,180 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Amherst, MA 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 Amherst Dpw Water Division 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.