Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Cool Sandy Beach Community Water System

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
70 people
Connections
43
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Rutland, MA
County
Worcester
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

01543

The short answer

1 result is above the limit’s level with no violation recorded, and 1 more is above the health goal. The worst: Arsenic, above the limit’s level, no violation. 2 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2004 to 2025.

Arsenic, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate: Massachusetts’s own results, samples taken from March 5, 2020 to July 27, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the limit’s level, no violation recorded1

Arsenic

Comes from the source

Above the limit’s level, no violation

19.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 11.4 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 19.6 ppb, in 2020, about twice EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb. Its highest single sample was 51 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 10 samples averaged 11.4 ppb, above the limit. EPA judges this limit on running averages at each sampling point, and recorded no violation for arsenic at this utility since 2020. Results like these with no violation often include water sampled before treatment or blending; the utility’s annual report says what reaches the tap. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 25.7 ppb, in 2017.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.6ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.6 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.32ppm

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.32 ppm, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. That was also the latest year on file.

What handles it

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

2.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2024

2024, one sample: 0.6 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 2.4 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2024, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.6 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 2.0 ppb, in 2017.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
3 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Chromium (total)
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
  • Nitrate

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

  • NSF/ANSI 53

    Claims: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Arsenic, Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (III) (50 ppb influent level)

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Arsenic, Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=300 ppb Reduction; Arsenic (V) (300 ppb influent level)

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best reverse osmosis systems, ranked

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Revised Total Coliform RuleFixes required after coliform results were not made on time.EPA: Treatment Technique, Corrective/Expedited Actions (RTCR)Nov. 2, 2018—Resolved
Revised Total Coliform RuleColiform results required a check of the system, and the check or its fixes were not done on time.EPA: Treatment Technique, Level 1 Assessment (RTCR)Oct. 20, 2018—Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 2 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate results here are Massachusetts’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Cool Sandy Beach Community Water System’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 March 5, 2020 to July 27, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Cool Sandy Beach Community Water System’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 Cool Sandy Beach Community Water System serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Eurofins-Worcester

    Worcester, MA · about 10 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (401) 461-7181

  • Pace Analytical LLC-Westborough

    Westborough, MA · about 20 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics

    (508) 898-9220

  • Quabbin Analytical Laboratory

    Belchertown, MA · about 23 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (413) 323-7134

All 81 certified labs for Massachusetts

Sources

PWSID MA2257003. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Worcester County

All Massachusetts utilities

What to do next