Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra), MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.53 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra) at a glance
Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra) serves about 27,844 people through 9,733 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: MA3262000; phone on file: 7812314145. 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 2021 (1.43 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra) is 3.62 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.53 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.43 ppb |
| 2020 | 2.01 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.05 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.59 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.32 ppb |
| 2017 | 0.6 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.96 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.62 ppb |
How Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra) 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. Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra)'s 1.53 ppb sits at the 46th percentile in Massachusetts and the 64th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Essex County
36 other systems share Essex County; 17 of them have a higher latest lead result than Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra). 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) |
| Peabody Water Dept. | 54,481 | 4.18 ppb |
| 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) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Saugus, 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 Saugus Water Dept. (Mwra) 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.