Great Barrington Fire Dist, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5.3 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2021). 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.
Great Barrington Fire Dist at a glance
Great Barrington Fire Dist serves about 4,380 people through 1,728 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 Berkshire County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1113000; phone on file: 4135280133. 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 2.4 ppb from 2.9 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Great Barrington Fire Dist is 5.3 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 5.3 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 4.4 ppb |
How Great Barrington Fire Dist 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. Great Barrington Fire Dist's 5.3 ppb sits at the 87th percentile in Massachusetts and the 92nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Berkshire County
37 other systems share Berkshire County; 6 of them have a higher latest lead result than Great Barrington Fire Dist. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept | 43,927 | 2.4 ppb |
| North Adams Water Dept | 13,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lenox Dpw Water Division | 9,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Adams Fire District | 7,945 | 0 (not detected) |
| Williamstown Water Dept | 7,326 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dalton Fire District | 6,330 | 1.15 ppb |
| Lee Water Dept | 5,686 | 1.1 ppb |
| Stockbridge Water Dept | 2,800 | 5 ppb |
| Lanesborough Fire And Water District | 2,342 | 2.2 ppb |
| Cheshire Water Dept | 1,407 | 2.2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Great Barrington, 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 Great Barrington Fire Dist 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.