Gardner Water Department, 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.
About Gardner Water Department
Gardner Water Department serves about 21,381 people through 5,795 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 Worcester County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA2103000; phone on file: 9786308791. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
That is up 5 ppb from 3 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Gardner Water Department is 8 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 4 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 3 ppb |
| 2020 | 3 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 4 ppb |
| 2018 | 4 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Gardner Water Department's 8 ppb sits at the 93rd percentile in Massachusetts and the 96th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
107 other systems share Worcester County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Gardner Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Worcester Dpwp, Water Supply Division | 206,518 | 2 ppb |
| Fitchburg Dpw Division Of Water Supply | 41,946 | 5 ppb |
| Leominster Water Division | 41,683 | 2.8 ppb |
| Shrewsbury Water Department | 38,325 | 0 (not detected) |
| Milford Water Department | 30,379 | 1 ppb |
| Westborough Water Department | 21,567 | 1.8 ppb |
| Southbridge Water Department | 19,562 | 3 ppb |
| Holden Water Division, Dpw | 18,016 | 3.1 ppb |
| Webster Water Department | 17,776 | 3.7 ppb |
| Clinton Water Dept | 15,428 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Gardner, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Gardner, 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 Gardner Water Department 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.