Georgetown Water Department, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 6 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.
Georgetown Water Department at a glance
Georgetown Water Department serves about 8,766 people through 2,841 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Essex County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA3105000; phone on file: 9783525750. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Georgetown Water Department's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (5 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Georgetown Water Department is 13 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 ppb |
| 2024 | 5 ppb |
| 2023 | 5.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 10 ppb |
| 2021 | 6 ppb |
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 5 ppb |
| 2019 | 4 ppb |
| 2018 | 7 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 ppb |
| 2016 | 13 ppb over 10 |
Against other Massachusetts systems
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. Georgetown Water Department's 6 ppb sits at the 89th percentile in Massachusetts and the 93rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
36 other systems share Essex County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Georgetown Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Lynn Water And Sewer Comm | 101,253 | 2.4 ppb |
| Salem And Beverly Water Supply Board | 90,330 | 1.7 ppb |
| Lawrence Water Works | 89,143 | 0 (not detected) |
| Haverhill Water Dept | 61,277 | 0 (not detected) |
| Peabody Water Dept. | 54,481 | 4.18 ppb |
| Methuen Water Dept | 53,059 | 1.6 ppb |
| Beverly Water Dept | 47,461 | - |
| Salem Water Department | 44,480 | - |
| Gloucester Public Utility Division | 37,440 | 3 ppb |
| Andover Water Dept | 36,569 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Georgetown, 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 Georgetown 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.