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Sweet Wood Retirement Community

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
200 people
Connections
2
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Williamstown, MA
County
Berkshire
Owner
Private
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

01267

The short answer

2 results are above the health goal. The worst: Arsenic, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2003 to 2024.

Arsenic, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, chromium (total), fluoride and haloacetic acids (HAA5): Massachusetts’s own results, samples taken from Feb. 21, 2020 to Aug. 3, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal2

Arsenic

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

3.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 3.3 ppb, in 2026: below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. Its highest single sample was 9.0 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 4.9 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

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

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

0.62ppb

90th percentile, 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 0.62 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

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

5.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026, one sample: 0.52 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 5.5 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.52 ppb.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.47ppm

Highest sample; found in 6 of 6

2025, one sample: 0.47 ppm

The highest sample, in 2025, was 0.47 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That was also the latest year on file, and its one sample was 0.47 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.66 ppm, in 2013.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
3 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

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

Hardness

Very hard, 381 mg/L (22.3 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, in 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 22.3 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?Massachusetts water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, chromium (total), fluoride and haloacetic acids (HAA5) results here are Massachusetts’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Sweet Wood Retirement Community’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 Feb. 21, 2020 to Aug. 3, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Sweet Wood Retirement Community’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 Sweet Wood Retirement Community serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Capital Region Environmental Laboratory

    Rensselaer, NY · about 24 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (518) 949-2020

  • Microbac Laboratories Inc.

    Lee, MA · about 26 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (413) 776-5025

  • Howard Laboratories LLC

    South Deerfield, MA · about 35 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (413) 247-5533

All 81 certified labs for Massachusetts

Sources

PWSID MA1341003. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Berkshire County

All Massachusetts utilities

What to do next