Pennichuck Water Works, NH
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2020-2022). 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
Pennichuck Water Works serves about 88,853 people through 27,007 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. EPA system ID: NH1621010. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Every lead result on file
That is up 2 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2019. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pennichuck Water Works is 2 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 124 New Hampshire systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 16 ppb; 62 are over 15 ppb right now and 64 have gone over at some point. Pennichuck Water Works's 2 ppb sits at the 39th percentile in New Hampshire and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
67 other systems share Hillsborough County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pennichuck Water Works. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester Water Works | 123,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Merrimack Village Dist | 25,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hudson Water Dept | 16,700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Milford Water Utilities Dept | 9,500 | 2 ppb |
| Litchfield | 6,920 | 0 (not detected) |
| Peterborough Water Works | 4,500 | 9 ppb |
| Goffstown Village Pct | 3,250 | - |
| Little Pond Estates | 3,000 | - |
| Hillsborough Water Works | 2,000 | - |
| Wilton Water Works | 1,790 | - |
Next steps for Nashua, NH
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Nashua, NH 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 Pennichuck 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.