Watertown Water & Sewer Authority, CT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 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.
Who runs the water here
Watertown Water & Sewer Authority serves about 9,972 people through 4,054 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 Litchfield County, Connecticut. EPA system ID: CT1530021; phone on file: 860-945-5299. 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 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Watertown Water & Sewer Authority is 3 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
| 2020 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 3 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
Against other Connecticut systems
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. Watertown Water & Sewer Authority's 2 ppb sits at the 74th percentile in Connecticut and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Litchfield County
72 other systems share Litchfield County; 17 of them have a higher latest lead result than Watertown Water & Sewer Authority. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Torrington Water Company | 37,915 | 0 (not detected) |
| Winsted Water Works | 7,784 | 2.6 ppb |
| Watertown Fire District | 6,718 | 2.2 ppb |
| Ctwc - Naugatuck Reg-Terryville System | 5,607 | 0.6 ppb |
| Ctwc - Naugatuck Reg-Thomaston System | 3,789 | 2.8 ppb |
| Aquarion-Litchfield Regional | 3,097 | 2 ppb |
| Aquarion-Salisbury | 1,932 | 0 (not detected) |
| Aquarion-New Hartford | 1,872 | 1.4 ppb |
| Aquarion-North Canaan | 1,481 | 1.3 ppb |
| Aquarion-Woodbury | 1,209 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Oakville, CT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Oakville, 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 Watertown Water & Sewer Authority 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.