Hanscom Afb, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.82 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Hanscom Afb at a glance
Hanscom Afb serves about 11,789 people through 203 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is federally owned and draws surface water, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA3023002; phone on file: 7812252937. 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 down 7.28 ppb from 12.1 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Hanscom Afb is 12.1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.82 ppb |
| 2022 | 12.1 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 7.45 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.95 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. Hanscom Afb's 4.82 ppb sits at the 84th percentile in Massachusetts and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
94 other systems share Middlesex County; 14 of them have a higher latest lead result than Hanscom Afb. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Lowell Regional Water Utility | 120,418 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cambridge Water Department | 118,214 | 8 ppb |
| Newton Water Dept. (Mwra) | 88,931 | 1.09 ppb |
| Somerville Water Dept. (Mwra) | 81,045 | 6.62 ppb |
| Framingham Water Dept. (Mwra) | 72,362 | 1.74 ppb |
| Malden Water Division (Mwra) | 66,263 | 9.74 ppb |
| Waltham Water Department | 65,218 | 2.24 ppb |
| Medford Water Dept. (Mwra) | 61,700 | 8.31 ppb |
| Everett Water Dept. (Mwra) | 49,075 | 1.25 ppb |
| Arlington Water Dept. (Mwra) | 46,308 | 2.68 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Hanscom Afb, 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 Hanscom Afb 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.