Lowell Regional Water Utility, MA
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Lowell Regional Water Utility serves about 120,418 people through 26,043 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA3160000; phone on file: 9786744240. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
That is down 1.1 ppb from 1.1 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lowell Regional Water Utility is 2 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
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. Lowell Regional Water Utility's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 25th percentile in Massachusetts and the 40th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Middlesex County
94 other systems share Middlesex County; 72 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lowell Regional Water Utility. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Billerica Water Works | 42,119 | 2.4 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Lowell Regional Water Utility's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Lowell Regional Water Utility 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.