Bittersweet Ridge Water Association, CT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
Who runs the water here
Bittersweet Ridge Water Association serves about 40 people through 20 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Middlesex County, Connecticut. EPA system ID: CT0827081; phone on file: 203-215-1792. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bittersweet Ridge Water Association is 4 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 ppb |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
Against other Connecticut systems
Of the 493 Connecticut systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.8 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 49 have gone over at some point. Bittersweet Ridge Water Association's 1 ppb sits at the 52nd percentile in Connecticut and the 50th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Middlesex County
45 other systems share Middlesex County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bittersweet Ridge Water Association. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Middletown Water Department | 41,019 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cromwell Fire District Water Department | 14,316 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ctwc - Shoreline Region-Chester System | 5,030 | 0 (not detected) |
| Portland Water Department | 5,010 | 0 (not detected) |
| Connecticut Valley Hospital | 2,928 | 0 (not detected) |
| Durham Center Division | 1,601 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ctwc - Jensens Beechwood System | 750 | 1.7 ppb |
| Ctwc - Spice Hill Division | 712 | 0 (not detected) |
| Edgemere Condominium Assn., Inc. | 540 | 0 (not detected) |
| Yeshiva Of Waterbury-Durham Campus | 490 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Middlefield, CT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Middlefield, CT 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 Bittersweet Ridge Water Association 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.