Pleasant Water, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.85 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
About Pleasant Water
Pleasant Water serves about 200 people through 67 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA4318091; phone on file: 5085141182. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2019 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pleasant Water is 3 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.85 ppb |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.15 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
How Pleasant Water 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. Pleasant Water's 1.85 ppb sits at the 53rd percentile in Massachusetts and the 68th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
29 other systems share Barnstable County; 8 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pleasant Water. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Falmouth Water Dept | 97,551 | 1.1 ppb |
| Dennis Water District | 65,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Upper Cape Regional Water Cooperative | 56,250 | - |
| Centerville Osterville Marstons Mills Wd | 50,000 | 1.82 ppb |
| Harwich Water Department | 39,144 | 0 (not detected) |
| Yarmouth Water Department | 38,900 | 1.5 ppb |
| Mashpee Water District | 36,922 | 1.4 ppb |
| Hyannis Water System, Town Of Barnstable | 35,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brewster Water Department | 35,000 | 3.4 ppb |
| Chatham Water Department | 30,000 | 1.05 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; South Yarmouth, 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 Pleasant Water 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.