Essex Gardens, CT
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
About Essex Gardens
Essex Gardens serves about 72 people through 24 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: CT0500021; phone on file: 845-633-2680. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2025 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Essex Gardens is 11 ppb across 13 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2025 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2023 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2022 | 4.7 ppb |
| 2021 | 4.94 ppb |
| 2020 | 8.03 ppb |
| 2019 | 4.96 ppb |
| 2018 | 5.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.2 ppb |
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. Essex Gardens's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 9th percentile in Connecticut and the 6th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Nearby utilities
45 other systems share Middlesex County; 20 of them have a higher latest lead result than Essex Gardens. 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) |
Your move
Look up your address in Essex Gardens's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Essex Gardens whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1420 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.