Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.4 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2022). 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
Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept serves about 43,927 people through 15,586 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 Berkshire County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1236000; phone on file: 4134999330. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2021 (1.7 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept is 3.6 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2020 | 3.6 ppb |
How Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept 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. Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept's 2.4 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Massachusetts and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Berkshire County
37 other systems share Berkshire County; 14 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pittsfield Dpu Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| North Adams Water Dept | 13,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lenox Dpw Water Division | 9,800 | 0 (not detected) |
| Adams Fire District | 7,945 | 0 (not detected) |
| Williamstown Water Dept | 7,326 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dalton Fire District | 6,330 | 1.15 ppb |
| Lee Water Dept | 5,686 | 1.1 ppb |
| Great Barrington Fire Dist | 4,380 | 5.3 ppb |
| Stockbridge Water Dept | 2,800 | 5 ppb |
| Lanesborough Fire And Water District | 2,342 | 2.2 ppb |
| Cheshire Water Dept | 1,407 | 2.2 ppb |
Next steps for Pittsfield, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Pittsfield, 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 Pittsfield Dpu 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.