Oak Bluffs Water District, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.9 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.
About Oak Bluffs Water District
Oak Bluffs Water District serves about 24,000 people through 4,628 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 groundwater, in Dukes County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA4221000; phone on file: 5086935527. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Every lead result on file
That is up 1.9 ppb from 2 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Oak Bluffs Water District is 3.9 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 3.9 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
How Oak Bluffs Water District 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. Oak Bluffs Water District's 3.9 ppb sits at the 77th percentile in Massachusetts and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Dukes County
6 other systems share Dukes County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Oak Bluffs Water District. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Edgartown Water Department | 8,027 | 6 ppb |
| Tisbury Water Works | 6,082 | 7.2 ppb |
| Menemsha Water Company | 841 | 2.33 ppb |
| Gosnold Water Dept | 425 | 1.2 ppb |
| Kuehns Way Llc | 80 | 0 (not detected) |
| Scotts Grove Llc | 36 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Oak Bluffs, 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 Oak Bluffs Water District 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.