Community Water System · PWSID ME0090150

Berwick Water Department

Serves 2,470 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentSaco, Maine
Nothing open right now.

On record since 2004: 31 violations. 3 over the limit · 2 treatment lapses · 25 missed or late tests · 1 notice or report. Most recent began 2022-10-04.

For this year's test results, ask the utility for its annual Consumer Confidence Report. Every community system must publish one.

3Over the limit
2Treatment lapse
25Missed or late test
1Notice or report

More violations on record than 92% of active water systems in Maine. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

2004 · Treatment lapse: 1200520102014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 232014 · Missed or late test: 2320152018 · Over the limit: 12019 · Over the limit: 220202022 · Treatment lapse: 12022 · Missed or late test: 22022 · Notice or report: 12025
One square ≈ 2 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
10% over the limit · 36% treatment lapse · 281% missed or late test · 253% notice or report · 1

Across Maine, 59% of violations are missed or late tests and 3% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)2019-04-01 · Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5): measured 0.0650 MG/L vs limit 0.0600 MG/L (1.1×)2019-01-01 · Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5): measured 0.0680 MG/L vs limit 0.0600 MG/L (1.1×)2018-10-01 · Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5): measured 0.0720 MG/L vs limit 0.0600 MG/L (1.2×)
Each dot is one over-the-limit violation: the measured value divided by the limit it broke, on a log scale. Most legal limits for chemicals are running averages set for a lifetime of drinking, so “just over” and “ten times over” are very different news. Hover a dot for the numbers.

Lead & copper at the tap

Utilities sample taps in homes most likely to have lead pipes, and report the 90th-percentile result: 9 in 10 homes sampled came in at or below this number. Above the red line (the action level) the utility must act. The action level is not a safe level; EPA's health goal for lead is zero. EPA's file does not date these results, so they are shown highest first.

Lead, 90th percentile 8 results on file · action level 15 ppb

7 ppb
7 ppb
2 ppb
1 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb

Every violation on record

  1. 2022-10-04DBP Stage 1Treatment Technique No Certif. OperatorBack in compliance
  2. 2022-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  3. 2022-10-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  4. 2022-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  5. 2019-04-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0650 MG/L · limit 0.0600 MG/LBack in compliance
  6. 2019-01-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0680 MG/L · limit 0.0600 MG/LBack in compliance
  7. 2018-10-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0720 MG/L · limit 0.0600 MG/LBack in compliance
  8. 2014-01-01CarbofuranMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2014-01-01OxamylMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2014-01-01PentachlorophenolMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2014-01-012, 4, 5-TpMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2014-01-012, 4-DMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2014-01-01DinosebMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2014-01-01PicloramMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2014-01-01DalaponMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2014-01-01ChlordaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2014-01-01Total Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2014-01-01ToxapheneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2014-01-01HexachlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2014-01-01Heptachlor epoxideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  21. 2014-01-01HeptachlorMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  22. 2014-01-01LassoMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  23. 2014-01-01AtrazineMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  24. 2014-01-01HexachlorocyclopentadieneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  25. 2014-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
Show the other 6 entries
  1. 2014-01-01SimazineMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  2. 2014-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  3. 2014-01-01MethoxychlorMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  4. 2014-01-01Bhc-GammaMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  5. 2014-01-01EndrinMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2004-01-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Treatment Installation/DemonstrationBack in compliance

System details

Population served2,470
Service connections988
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CitySaco
EPA ZIP on file04072

Areas served

  • Berwick, York County

Reading this record

Berwick Water Department is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 2,470 people in Saco, Maine. Everything above comes from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), where states report every violation by every public water system.

Four kinds of violation. Only one is a measurement of the water: over the limit means a test came back above a legal maximum (an MCL). A treatment lapse means a required protective step was not done, such as disinfection, filtration, fixing a defect an inspector found, or filing a lead-pipe inventory. A missed or late test means a required test was skipped or never reported. That is the most common kind, and the most misread: it does not mean the water was bad, and it does not mean the water was fine. Notices and reports covers public notices and the annual Consumer Confidence Report.

Status. “Back in compliance” means the state recorded a return to compliance. “Period ended” means the violation's compliance period is over but no return to compliance was ever filed, which is common in older records. EPA's federal copy lags state records by months, so call the utility for anything current.