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Is Cambridge, MA tap water safe?

Cambridge Water Department serves Cambridge, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and Massachusetts’s records show for it, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

Cambridge Water Department serves Cambridge. In EPA’s and Massachusetts’s records it has 1 result above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029 and 2 results above the health goal, and no health-based violation since 2016.

The worst: PFOA at 4.8 ppt, above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029.

The water from Cambridge Water Department is moderately hard, 72 mg/L (4.2 grains per gallon). How Massachusetts’s water compares.

Some homes in a town are on private wells or a small system of their own. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Cambridge Water Department’s water.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Cambridge

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab Massachusetts certifies.

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

  • Mass DPH Environmental Chemistry Lab

    Jamaica Plain, MA · about 4 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals

    (617) 983-6654

  • G and L Labs Inc.

    Quincy, MA · about 9 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (617) 328-3663

  • White Lodge Laboratory

    Westwood, MA · about 12 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (781) 710-6498

All 81 certified labs for Massachusetts

ZIP codes in Cambridge

Which ZIP codes are in Cambridge: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: MassDEP Online Searchable Laboratory Certification Listing, potable water; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Cambridge

Other towns in Middlesex County with a page of their own.

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