Somerset Water Department, MA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 10 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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 Somerset Water Department
Somerset Water Department serves about 18,303 people through 7,022 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 Bristol County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA4273000; phone on file: 5086744215. 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 up 7 ppb from 3 ppb in the period ending 2024. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Somerset Water Department is 11 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2023 | 10 ppb |
| 2022 | 6 ppb |
| 2022 | 5 ppb |
| 2021 | 6 ppb |
| 2021 | 11 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 6 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Somerset Water Department's 10 ppb sits at the 96th percentile in Massachusetts and the 97th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
27 other systems share Bristol County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than Somerset Water Department. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Inima Usa / Aquaria Llc | 105,643 | - |
| City Of New Bedford Dpi | 101,079 | 4.1 ppb |
| Fall River Water Department | 94,000 | 12 ppb |
| Taunton Water Division | 62,165 | 1.8 ppb |
| Attleboro Water Dept | 46,461 | 1.33 ppb |
| North Attleboro Water Dept | 31,410 | 5.1 ppb |
| Easton Water Div | 25,058 | 1.9 ppb |
| Dartmouth Water Division | 24,696 | 7 ppb |
| Mansfield Water Division | 21,797 | 1.9 ppb |
| Norton Water Department | 19,161 | 1.2 ppb |
Next steps for Somerset, MA
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Somerset, 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 Somerset Water Department 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.