Paxton Water Department, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2024). 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.
Paxton Water Department at a glance
Paxton Water Department serves about 4,300 people through 1,341 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized 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: MA2228000; phone on file: 5087539077. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Paxton Water Department's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Paxton Water Department is 3 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2021 | 3 ppb |
| 2020 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How Paxton Water Department 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. Paxton Water Department's 3 ppb sits at the 70th percentile in Massachusetts and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
107 other systems share Worcester County; 24 of them have a higher latest lead result than Paxton Water Department. 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 |
| Holden Water Division, Dpw | 18,016 | 3.1 ppb |
| Webster Water Department | 17,776 | 3.7 ppb |
Next steps for Paxton, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Paxton, 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 Paxton Water Department 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.