EWG's drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, as well as information from the U.
For the latest quarter assessed by the U. EPA January - March , tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
Always take extra precautions, the water may be safe to drink when it leaves the sewage treatment plant but it may pick up pollutants during its way to your tap.
We advise that you ask locals or hotel staff about the water quality. Also, note that different cities have different water mineral contents. How do you find the quality and the accessibility of the drinking water? Are you concerned with the water pollution in your city? The estimated price of bottled water.
Is there Lead in Boston Water? What do these Violations Mean? Maximum residual disinfectant levels MRDLs - maximum allowed disinfectant level was exceeded. Other violations Other - the exact required process to reduce the amounts of contaminants in drinking water was not followed. Public notice violations Other - failure to immediately alert consumers if there is a serious problem with their drinking water that may pose a risk to public health. Other violations Other - miscellaneous violations, such as failure to issue annual consumer confidence reports or maintain required records.
Status Current status of the violation. Resolved - The violation has at least one resolving enforcement action. In SDWIS, this indicates that either the system has returned to compliance from the violation, the rule that was violated was no longer applicable, or no further action was needed.
Archived - The violation is not Resolved, but is more than five years past its compliance period end date. In keeping with the Enforcement Response Policy, the violation no longer contributes to the public water system's overall compliance status.
Unresolved violations are also marked as Archived when a system ceases operations becomes inactive. Addressed - The violation is not Resolved or Archived, and is addressed by one or more formal enforcement actions. Unaddressed - The violation is not Resolved or Archived, and has not been addressed by formal enforcement.
Whether the violation is health based. Category Code The category of violation that is reported. Is it safe to Drink Tap Water in Boston? Yes, tap water is drinkable. Learn more. Is tap water drinkable in Massachusetts and elsewhere in USA? Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 11 months ago. Active 4 years, 10 months ago.
Viewed 36k times. Improve this question. I lived there for a long time and would have thought anybody paying for bottled water was loony as a box of frogs. The water on Martha's Vineyard can be funny tasting sometimes, but it's certainly potable! Its safe as noted below in the answers, but some regions may have odd smells which affect taste not safety.
In Rochester, NY I got a filter because I found the smell of the tap water there terrible, and in Florida it seems to have an ocean water smell. Depends on where in Forida I may have had a small sample size but some US Americans confirmed that this was perfectly normal and did not even notice this anymore. I cannot say anything about the health impact though. Unfortunately, the bottled water started tasting weird after a few days too, which I put to the bottle material.
Wrzlprmft it really depends where you are. Burlington VT does not add anything to the water it pulls from the lake, its the closest to well water I've found. Show 6 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. TankorSmash 4 4 bronze badges. Here in Germany it is often the case that tap water is of higher quality than bottled water. Because it is controlled extensively. In the USA, most of the water supply is very potable except for some of the large cities.
It works really well and yes in some places such as around the continental divide tap better is actually better than bottled water. And no matter what, being environmentally conscious, I must protest against bottled water. Most cities share water sources with surrounding areas; the size of the city has no direct relation to its water quality, but bigger cities tend to be older, and suffer from degradation of pipes in buildings. The water in California not just Los Angeles and San Francisco is often bad-tasting because it is a combination of heavily mineraled groundwater and aqueduct water imported from hundreds of miles away.
FixedPoint What evidence do you have that Boston water tastes worse than elsewhere? That is contrary to my impression. Show 3 more comments. Note that "drinkable" is not the same thing as "tastes good".
There are some decidedly foul-tasting water supplies out there. Most of Massachusetts water is pretty good, most of the time. There are a few towns whose reservoirs occasionally experience algae blooms, which are generally harmless but can make the water taste "fishy" for a few weeks. As Mark says, drinkable and tasting good are different. Note that tasting good varies on a smaller scale than by state; it depends on the source of the water as well as the kind of pipes used to transport it.
It's possible to have different tasting water in different parts of the same city, if the city is large enough! Usually bad taste in municipal water is because of plumbing issues; water plants tend to have very high standards. Show 1 more comment. Schwern Schwern 3 3 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges. This might be counter-productive.
Storing water in a container for too long can cause it to become stagnant. Philipp I also use it for camping, it gets rotated. Additionally, the stored bottled water may absorb volatiles from the plastic. That is the reason that bottled water has an expiration date.
There's no FDA limit on the shelf life of bottled water. But if it sits around too long it might taste bad, so the manufacturers voluntarily put an expiration date on it. Then the consumer won't blame them for stinky water. The FDA says it's safe. The EFSA says its not sure so don't expose infants. They're both keeping an eye on it. For the FDA, something has to be proven to be harmful.
For the EFSA, the suggestion that it's harmful is enough. Make sure the packaging specifically lists the contaminant you wish to reduce. A variety of filters exist to meet your needs. What is the difference between a point-of-use filter and a point-of-entry filter? POU filters are often more economical, but if you wish to treat water at multiple locations in the home, you will need to buy a filter for each location. POU filters are a good choice when you want to remove contaminants that originate in your home plumbing, such as lead.
Point-of-entry POE filters treat all water that enters the home, including toilet water, bath water, laundry water, and in some cases water at outside spigots. POE filters may be more expensive, and will not address issues in the plumbing that are located after the filter, such as lead solder.
If you have a POE filter that removes chlorine and sodium hydroxide, you are removing the disinfectant and pH adjustment in the water. This could lead to bacterial growth and corrosion of home plumbing. Do showerhead filters remove chloramine? Some certified showerheads on the market with granular activated carbon claim to also reduce chloramine.
Customers may have success with vitamin C showerhead filters, but these are not certified. Do filters require maintenance? Unmaintained filters can also harbor bacteria.
Many filters have a device that indicates when to change the filter. A re there alternatives to filtration? If you have lead in your plumbing, you should try to have it removed. You should also check with your local water department about lead service lines.
Flushing your faucet will also address taste and odor issues if you have older iron pipes. To remove chlorine taste and odor, add slices of lemon to a pitcher of water, as the ascorbic acid vitamin C will help dechlorinate the water. Boiling water can also reduce chlorine levels, however you should not boil water to remove lead. MWRA's drinking water is soft. If you are an MWRA customer, you probably don't need to use special water softeners for your clothes - or dishwashing machines.
You do not need a water softener. Water's "hardness" and "softness" is due to its concentration of minerals —calcium and magnesium. The lower the mineral concentration, the softer the water is. MWRA's drinking water has a hardness of approximately 16 milligrams per liter, or 1 grain per gallon. When using water that is considered soft you do not need to use as much dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, or other soaps. Many new dishwashers allow you to set the hardness of the water so that you do not need to use as much soap in comparison to areas that have hard water.
MWRA treats its drinking water so that it has a pH of approximately 9. This pH level helps to reduce the potential that water will leach metal that might be in your household plumbing. The pH scale is relative and runs from 0 to MWRA tests for sodium regularly and the highest level found was This is considered to be a very low level of sodium by the FDA. Sodium in water contributes only a small fraction of a person's overall sodium intake.
In summer my water smells like chlorine. Why does this happen, and how can reduce the odor? MWRA disinfects its water to protect against harmful bacteria from birds, animals, and even humans that can enter into reservoirs. Ozone and UV leave no taste or odor, and in fact improves the natural taste of the water.
To protect the water as it travels through the miles of pipe to get to your house, MWRA uses a mild disinfectant called mono-chloramine that has very little taste or odor. Occasionally those with sensitive palettes may find their water has the odor of chlorine. It usually doesn't last long, and is related to the normal adjustment of the mono-chloramine treatment.
This is more likely in the summer when water is warmer. Chilling the water usually eliminates it. You can leave a pitcher of water in the refrigerator. In spring and fall, we sometimes notice a fishy or earthy taste and odor to our water. What causes this, and is it safe to drink? This is probably the result of algae growth in one of the water system's reservoirs, partially caused by the change of season.
Different types of algae can cause your water to smell fishy, moldy, grassy or even like cucumbers or violets. Refrigerating the water can help eliminate the odor, and adding a slice of lemon will remove any bitter taste.
In the meantime, when a funny taste or smell is first detected in the water supply, MWRA moves quickly to correct the problem with a limited application of copper sulfate to control the natural algal growth in the affected reservoir. That eventually solves the problem. Bacteria are everywhere we go in the world, but there are certain types of bacteria we don't want to see in our water supply, because of public health concerns.
Communities regularly take water samples, which are then analyzed in laboratories for bacteria counts. A particular type of bacteria that they test for -- coliform -- serves to indicate that harmful germs may also be present.
In addition, when coliform are found in samples, the lab conducts additional testing to determine if a specific type, E. Usually the solution in this case is to boil the water until the problem is solved. MWRA, the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation DCR , and others work hard to assure protection of area reservoirs, especially against birds, dogs, other animals and even swimmers getting into water supplies.
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