Holyoke Water Works, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 9 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Holyoke Water Works serves about 37,838 people through 8,181 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 Hampden County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1137000; phone on file: 4135360442. 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 up 3.7 ppb from 5.3 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Holyoke Water Works is 9 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 9 ppb |
| 2023 | 5.3 ppb |
| 2020 | 7.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.4 ppb |
How Holyoke Water Works 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. Holyoke Water Works's 9 ppb sits at the 95th percentile in Massachusetts and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
26 other systems share Hampden County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Holyoke Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Springfield Water And Sewer Commission | 169,170 | 3.5 ppb |
| Chicopee Water Dept (Mwra) | 55,560 | 1.5 ppb |
| Westfield Dpwwater Division | 41,094 | 2.7 ppb |
| West Springfield Dpw Water Division | 28,835 | 1.6 ppb |
| Agawam Water Department | 28,692 | 1.5 ppb |
| East Longmeadow Dpw Water Dept | 16,358 | 1.4 ppb |
| Longmeadow Water Dept | 15,853 | 1.8 ppb |
| Wilbraham Water Dept (Mwra) | 8,533 | 5.63 ppb |
| Southwick Water Dept | 7,669 | 2.6 ppb |
| Palmer Water District No.1 | 4,789 | 4.9 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Holyoke, 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 Holyoke Water Works 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.