Holden Water Division, Dpw, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.1 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.
Who runs the water here
Holden Water Division, Dpw serves about 18,016 people through 6,504 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: MA2134000; phone on file: 5082105550. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Holden Water Division, Dpw is 3.1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 3 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2016 | 2.4 ppb |
How Holden Water Division, Dpw 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. Holden Water Division, Dpw's 3.1 ppb sits at the 73rd percentile in Massachusetts and the 83rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
107 other systems share Worcester County; 22 of them have a higher latest lead result than Holden Water Division, Dpw. 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 |
| Gardner Water Department | 21,381 | 8 ppb |
| Southbridge Water Department | 19,562 | 3 ppb |
| Webster Water Department | 17,776 | 3.7 ppb |
| Clinton Water Dept | 15,428 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Holden, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Holden, 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 Holden Water Division, Dpw 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.