Peabody Water Dept., MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.18 ppb (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. 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
Peabody Water Dept. serves about 54,481 people through 14,245 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 Essex County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA3229000; phone on file: 9785360600. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Peabody Water Dept.'s lead record
That is up 1.37 ppb from 2.81 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Peabody Water Dept. is 5 ppb across 12 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.18 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.81 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.29 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.14 ppb |
| 2023 | 1.73 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.64 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.19 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.19 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.35 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.99 ppb |
| 2017 | 5 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. Peabody Water Dept.'s 4.18 ppb sits at the 80th percentile in Massachusetts and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Essex County
36 other systems share Essex County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Peabody Water Dept.. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Lynn Water And Sewer Comm | 101,253 | 2.4 ppb |
| Salem And Beverly Water Supply Board | 90,330 | 1.7 ppb |
| Lawrence Water Works | 89,143 | 0 (not detected) |
| Haverhill Water Dept | 61,277 | 0 (not detected) |
| Methuen Water Dept | 53,059 | 1.6 ppb |
| Beverly Water Dept | 47,461 | - |
| Salem Water Department | 44,480 | - |
| Gloucester Public Utility Division | 37,440 | 3 ppb |
| Andover Water Dept | 36,569 | 0 (not detected) |
| North Andover Water Dept | 30,915 | 1.2 ppb |
Next steps for West Peabody, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; West Peabody, 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 Peabody Water Dept. 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.