Southampton Water Dept, MA
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.1 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. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
Who runs the water here
Southampton Water Dept serves about 4,853 people through 1,668 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. EPA system ID: MA1276000; phone on file: 4135324249. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Southampton Water Dept's lead record
Against the period ending 2024 (3.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Southampton Water Dept is 17.3 ppb across 15 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.1 ppb |
| 2024 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2024 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2023 | 4.7 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.8 ppb |
| 2022 | 17.3 ppb over 15 |
| 2021 | 3.8 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.7 ppb |
| 2017 | 3.8 ppb |
| 2017 | 4.2 ppb |
| 2016 | 3.8 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. Southampton Water Dept's 4.1 ppb sits at the 80th percentile in Massachusetts and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
27 other systems share Hampshire County; 9 of them have a higher latest lead result than Southampton Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Amherst Dpw Water Division | 39,263 | 8 ppb |
| Northampton Water Division | 29,571 | 1.2 ppb |
| Easthampton Water Dept | 16,211 | 2.5 ppb |
| South Hadley Fd #1 (Mwra) | 14,800 | 4 ppb |
| Ware Water Dept | 10,066 | 4.7 ppb |
| South Hadley Fire District #2 Water Dept | 6,200 | 5.3 ppb |
| Hadley Dpw Water Division | 4,819 | 4.6 ppb |
| Belchertown Water District | 3,253 | 3 ppb |
| Hatfield Water Dept | 3,164 | 23.1 ppb |
| Huntington Water Dept | 2,180 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Southampton, 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 Southampton Water Dept whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1350 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.