Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra), MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5.38 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.
About Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra)
Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra) serves about 40,787 people through 5,100 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 Suffolk County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA3057000; phone on file: 6174664200. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.68 ppb from 3.7 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra) is 11.1 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5.38 ppb |
| 2023 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 8.29 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.41 ppb |
| 2021 | 6.95 ppb |
| 2020 | 11.1 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 3.93 ppb |
| 2020 | 8.58 ppb |
| 2019 | 9.52 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.58 ppb |
How Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra) 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. Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra)'s 5.38 ppb sits at the 87th percentile in Massachusetts and the 92nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
4 other systems share Suffolk County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra). If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Mwra | 2,580,000 | 5.9 ppb |
| Boston Water And Sewer Commission (Mwra) | 675,647 | 7.96 ppb |
| Revere Water Division (Mwra) | 62,186 | 31.9 ppb |
| Winthrop Water Division, (Mwra) | 19,316 | 16.4 ppb |
Next steps for Chelsea, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Chelsea, 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 Chelsea Water Dept. (Mwra) 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.