Cheshire Water Dept

What EPA’s and Massachusetts’s records show in this utility’s water: nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves: 1,407 people
Connections: 571
Water source: Groundwater
Based in: Cheshire, MA
County: Berkshire
Owner: Local government
Hardness: Very hard

The ZIP code it serves

01225

The short answer

Nothing in EPA’s and Massachusetts’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What was found

Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride: Massachusetts’s own results, samples taken from May 12, 2020 to April 22, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits1

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.4ppm

Highest sample; found in 7 of 7

2026, one sample: 1.3 ppm

The highest sample, in 2020, was 1.4 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 1.3 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 1.6 ppm, in 2013.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

Arsenic
Chromium (total)
Fluoride
Lead

Hardness

Very hard, 216 mg/L (12.6 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, 2023 to 2026.

Hardness is calcium and magnesium. EPA sets no limit for it: it shows up as scale on fixtures and in water heaters, and as soap that won’t lather. USGS calls water above 60 mg/L moderately hard, above 120 hard and above 180 very hard.

Softeners compared at 12.6 grains per gallon, salt included Softener or salt-free conditioner?Massachusetts water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There is 1 monitoring or reporting violation: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride results here are Massachusetts’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Cheshire Water Dept’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has the contaminants this page does not show.
Your own plumbing. Lead results are the 90th percentile across homes the utility samples. Your home’s service line, solder and fixtures decide yours. A certified lab test is the only way to know.
What it means for your health. This page reports what the records show and EPA’s limits and goals; it is not medical advice. If you are worried about a health effect, talk to a doctor or your local health department.
Anything after the latest data. SDWIS data is from 2026 Q3; UCMR 5 didn’t sample this utility; Massachusetts’s results run from May 12, 2020 to April 22, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Cheshire Water Dept’s results are for the water it sends out. What your own service line, solder and fixtures add shows up only in a test of your tap, by a lab Massachusetts certifies.

The 3 labs Massachusetts certifies closest to the area Cheshire Water Dept serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

Microbac Laboratories Inc.
Lee, MA · about 19 miles
Certified for bacteria
(413) 776-5025
Howard Laboratories LLC
South Deerfield, MA · about 28 miles
Certified for bacteria
(413) 247-5533
Capital Region Environmental Laboratory
Rensselaer, NY · about 29 miles
Certified for bacteria
(518) 949-2020