Community Water System · PWSID MA1059000

Chester Water Dept

Serves 750 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentChester, Massachusetts
Nothing open that measures the water, but 1 open testing or paperwork violation.

A missed test is not evidence of bad water. It also is not evidence of good water: for that period nobody checked.

On record since 2008: 61 violations. 8 over the limit · 1 treatment lapse · 47 missed or late tests · 5 notices or reports. Most recent began 2024-07-01.

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

8Over the limit
1Treatment lapse
47Missed or late test1 open
5Notice or report

More violations on record than 98% of active water systems in Massachusetts. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

20052008 · Notice or report: 12009 · Notice or report: 12010 · Notice or report: 120102012 · Missed or late test: 12012 · Notice or report: 120152017 · Notice or report: 12018 · Over the limit: 32018 · Missed or late test: 22019 · Over the limit: 32019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422019 · Missed or late test: 422020 · Over the limit: 220202023 · Missed or late test: 22024 · Treatment lapse: 12025
One square ≈ 4 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
13% over the limit · 82% treatment lapse · 177% missed or late test · 478% notice or report · 5

Across Massachusetts, 79% of violations are missed or late tests and 4% are water over a limit.

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 2 results on file · action level 15 ppb

4.7 ppb
3.3 ppb

Open now (1)

  1. 2023-06-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2024-07-01Surface water treatment (LT2)Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
  2. 2023-10-10Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  3. 2023-06-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen
  4. 2020-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  5. 2020-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  6. 2019-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  7. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1260Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2019-07-01Pcb 1262Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1254Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1248Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1242Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1232Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1221Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2019-07-01Aroclor 1016Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2019-07-012, 3, 7, 8-TcddMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2019-07-01SimazineMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2019-07-01PicloramMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2019-07-01OxamylMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2019-07-01HexachlorocyclopentadieneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2019-07-01HexachlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  21. 2019-07-01GlyphosateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  22. 2019-07-01EndothallMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  23. 2019-07-01DiquatMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  24. 2019-07-01DinosebMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  25. 2019-07-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
Show the other 36 entries
  1. 2019-07-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  2. 2019-07-01DalaponMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  3. 2019-07-01Benzo(a)pyreneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  4. 2019-07-011, 2-Dibromo-3-ChloropropaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  5. 2019-07-01Total Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2019-07-01Bhc-GammaMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2019-07-01MethoxychlorMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2019-07-012, 4, 5-TpMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2019-07-01ToxapheneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2019-07-01PentachlorophenolMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2019-07-01HeptachlorMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2019-07-01Heptachlor epoxideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2019-07-01Ethylene DibromideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2019-07-01EndrinMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2019-07-012, 4-DMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2019-07-01ChlordaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2019-07-01CarbofuranMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2019-07-01AtrazineMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2019-07-01LassoMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2019-07-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  21. 2019-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  22. 2019-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
  23. 2019-04-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  24. 2019-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
  25. 2019-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  26. 2018-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  27. 2018-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  28. 2018-07-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  29. 2018-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  30. 2018-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, AveragePeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  31. 2017-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  32. 2012-06-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  33. 2012-06-01Surface water filtration (IESWTR)Record KeepingBack in compliance
  34. 2010-03-13Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  35. 2009-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  36. 2008-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance

System details

Population served750
Service connections250
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityChester
EPA ZIP on file01011

Areas served

  • Chester, Hampden County, 01011

Reading this record

Chester Water Dept is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 750 people in Chester, Massachusetts. 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.