Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar), CT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar) serves about 300 people through 75 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in New London County, Connecticut. EPA system ID: CT0720011; phone on file: 860-464-0232. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is down 12.2 ppb from 13.6 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar) is 13.6 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2023 | 13.6 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 5.6 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.1 ppb |
Where this result ranks
Of the 493 Connecticut systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0.8 ppb; 2 are over 15 ppb right now and 49 have gone over at some point. Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar)'s 1.4 ppb sits at the 65th percentile in Connecticut and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
82 other systems share New London County; 28 of them have a higher latest lead result than Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar). If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Norwich Public Utilities | 36,163 | 0 (not detected) |
| Groton Utilities | 30,200 | 1.1 ppb |
| New London Dept. Of Public Utilities | 27,620 | 0 (not detected) |
| Waterford Wpca | 16,578 | 1.5 ppb |
| East Lyme Water & Sewer Commission | 15,245 | 0 (not detected) |
| Aquarion-Mystic | 10,788 | 0 (not detected) |
| Jewett City Water Company | 6,840 | 0 (not detected) |
| Colchester Sewer & Water Commission | 4,020 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ctwc - Shoreline Region-Sound View | 3,397 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ledyard Wpca - Ledyard Center | 3,294 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Gales Ferry, CT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Gales Ferry, CT 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 Scwa, Barrett Division (Bar) 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.