Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Is Reading, MA tap water safe?

Reading Water Department (MWRA) serves Reading, 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

Reading Water Department (MWRA) serves Reading. In EPA’s and Massachusetts’s records it has 1 result above the health goal, and 1 health-based violation since 2016.

The worst: Lead at 8.4 ppb, above the health goal. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

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 Reading Water Department (MWRA)’s water.

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

Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Reading

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 Reading, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Eurofins Danvers

    Danvers, MA · about 8 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (978) 777-4442

  • New England Chromachem Inc.

    Salem, MA · about 12 miles

    Certified for organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, PFAS

    (978) 744-6600

  • Mass DPH Environmental Chemistry Lab

    Jamaica Plain, MA · about 16 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals

    (617) 983-6654

All 81 certified labs for Massachusetts

ZIP codes in Reading

Which ZIP codes are in Reading: 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 Reading

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

What to do next