Bernardston Fire Water Dist, MA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2024). 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 Bernardston Fire Water Dist
Bernardston Fire Water Dist serves about 1,471 people through 689 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 Franklin County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1029000; phone on file: 4134753037. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Bernardston Fire Water Dist's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (1.6 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bernardston Fire Water Dist is 31 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2020 | 31 ppb over 15 |
| 2019 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2018 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.2 ppb |
How Bernardston Fire Water Dist 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. Bernardston Fire Water Dist's 1.3 ppb sits at the 40th percentile in Massachusetts and the 60th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
24 other systems share Franklin County; 21 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bernardston Fire Water Dist. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Greenfield Water Department | 17,768 | 3.32 ppb |
| Turners Falls Water Dept | 8,080 | 1.9 ppb |
| Orange Water Dept | 6,526 | 2.6 ppb |
| South Deerfield Water Supply District | 3,800 | 3 ppb |
| Sunderland Water District | 3,190 | 3.9 ppb |
| Shelburne Falls Fire District | 1,806 | 2.8 ppb |
| Deerfield Fire District | 1,300 | 1.4 ppb |
| Whately Water Department | 900 | 1.5 ppb |
| Northfield Water District | 800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Northfield Mt Hermon School | 750 | 2.64 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bernardston, 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 Bernardston Fire Water Dist 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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.