Essex County tap water
10 of 31 water systems serving Essex County with full PFAS testing averaged above a 2024 federal PFAS level at one or more sampling points.
- 39 community water systems list this county as served; 31 serve 3,300+ people with full PFAS testing.
- 7 had a health-based violation since 2021-10-26.
Largest systems serving this county
| System | Source | People served (whole system) | PFAS above a 2024 level? | Violations since 2021-10-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynn Water and Sewer Comm | Surface water | 101,253 | No | 0 |
| Lawrence Water Works | Surface water | 89,143 | No | 0 |
| Haverhill Water dept | Surface water | 61,277 | No | 0 |
| Peabody Water dept. | Surface water | 54,481 | Yes | 0 |
| Methuen Water dept | Surface water | 53,059 | No | 0 |
| Beverly Water dept | Purchased surface water | 47,461 | No | 0 |
| Salem Water department | Purchased surface water | 44,480 | No | 0 |
| Gloucester Public Utility Division | Surface water | 37,440 | No | 0 |
| Andover Water dept | Surface water | 36,569 | No | 2 |
| North Andover Water dept | Surface water | 30,915 | No | 0 |
| Danvers Water dept. | Surface water | 28,087 | No | 1 |
| Saugus Water dept. (Mwra) | Purchased surface water | 27,844 | No | 0 |
Which one is yours? A county usually has several utilities. Your bill or your utility's annual water-quality report names yours. Population is for the whole system, which can cross county lines.
Not medical or legal advice. UCMR 5 results are screening data, not compliance determinations.
Sources and freshness
Public-water-system facts, violations and lead/copper results: EPA ECHO SDWA download (SDWIS snapshot 2026-10-13). PFAS and lithium results: EPA UCMR 5 final data (sampling 2023–2025). Both are U.S. government works, downloaded 2026-10-26. Numbers are computed by the published method; the same fields are in the open data files.