How many water violations are in Worcester County?

Worcester County has 23,751 total drinking water violations across 345 water systems, of which 2,339 are health-based violations. 95.7% of systems have at least one violation.

How many people get water from Worcester County systems?

Water systems in Worcester County serve approximately 773,172 people through 345 public water systems.

Has PFAS been detected in Worcester County water?

Under EPA UCMR5, 23 of 44 tested systems in Worcester County had at least one PFAS detection (52.3% of the UCMR5-tested subset - not of all 345 SDWIS systems).

What types of water sources supply Worcester County?

Water systems in Worcester County use GW (307 systems), SW (38 systems) as their primary water sources.

Are health-based violations serious?

Health-based violations indicate that drinking water exceeded Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) set by the EPA or failed treatment technique requirements. 9.8% of Worcester County's violations are health-based. Among counties with any SDWIS violations, this extract puts Worcester County in the lower health-based share band. Not all violations indicate immediate health risk, but they require corrective action.

Counties → Massachusetts

Worcester County, Massachusetts

Compiled by PlainWater · May 15, 2026

SDWIS compliance plate

Sheet MA027 · Worcester County 345 sys · 23,751 viol · #85/3254

VIOL-SEVERE · HEALTH-LOW · RANK-TOP · PHOTO-FINISH · PFAS-HIGH · SRC-GW · SYS-LARGE · BOOK-FULL

VIOL-SEVERE 95.7% flagged
HEALTH-LOW 9.8% health
RANK-TOP #85/3254
PHOTO-FINISH ±0.3 pp
PFAS-HIGH 52.3% detect
SRC-GW GW lead 89%
SYS-LARGE 345 systems
BOOK-FULL 7/7 fields

Nearest flagged-rate peer: Dukes County (+ 0.3 pp flagged-rate)

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Worcester County ranks #85 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #5 of 14 counties in Massachusetts. See methodology · corpus placement.

Worcester County standing, mid-flagged corpus third

Flagged-system rate 95.7% is in the corpus middle third (≤ 100.0% flagged) across 2,973 counties with ≥3 SDWIS systems . Health-based share 9.8% is health-based share at or below the lower third (≤ 10.3%) . UCMR5 detect rate 52.3% is UCMR5 detect rate above the tested-pool upper third (> 33.3%) . Population served ranks #85 of 3,254 · #5 of 14 in Massachusetts.

Water Systems

System Name	Population	Violations	PFAS
Worcester Dpwp, Water Supply Division	206,518	47	Detected
Fitchburg Dpw Division of Water Supply	41,946	51	Detected
Leominster Water Division	41,683	345	Detected
Shrewsbury Water Department	38,325	25	Detected
Milford Water Department	30,379	108	Detected
Westborough Water Department	21,567	147	Detected
Gardner Water Department	21,287	100	Clean
Southbridge Water Department	19,180	24	Detected
Holden Water Division, Dpw	17,951	123	Detected
Webster Water Department	17,776	171	Detected
Clinton Water Dept	15,530	53	Clean
Northborough Water Department (Mwra)	13,535	432	Clean
Auburn Water District	12,255	503	Detected
Uxbridge Dpw, Water Division	11,525	55	Detected
Ash/Win Joint Water Authority	11,394	1	Clean
Aquarion Water Company, Millbury	11,326	40	Detected
Grafton Water District	10,925	78	Detected
Southborough Dpw Water Division (Mwra)	10,514	17	Clean
Athol Dpw Water Division	10,418	19	Clean
Blackstone Water Department	9,868	139	Detected
Whitinsville Water Company	7,933	38	Clean
Northbridge Water Division	7,889	23	Clean
Aquarion Water Company Oxford	7,343	10	Detected
Lunenburg Water District	7,145	28	Detected
West Boylston Water District	7,132	163	Detected
Spencer Water Department	7,037	27	Clean
Sterling Water Department	6,754	183	Detected
Templeton Munic. Light and Water Plant	6,152	215	Detected
Hopedale Water Department	6,017	68	Detected
Lancaster Water Department	6,000	49	Clean
Winchendon Water Department	5,706	83	Clean
Rutland Water Department	5,605	65	Clean
Dudley Water Department	5,515	306	Clean
Sturbridge Water Department	4,567	43	Clean
Upton Dpw Water/Wastewater Division	4,420	169	Clean
Douglas Water Department	4,400	64	Clean
Paxton Water Department	4,300	49	Detected
Barre Water Department	4,098	217	Clean
North Brookfield Water Department	3,903	78	Clean
Westminster Department of Public Works	3,741	34	Clean
Cherry Valley/ Rochdale Water District	3,696	227	Detected
Ashburnham Water Department	3,680	214	Clean
Boylston Water District	3,343	140	Detected
South Grafton Water District	3,262	45	-
Leicester Water Supply District	3,200	184	-
Pilot Travel Center	3,000	72	-
Wilkinsonville Water District	2,773	145	-
Wachusett Mountain Ski Area	2,500	76	-
West Brookfield Water Department	2,477	58	-
Warren Water District	2,289	28	-

Compare beyond Massachusetts

Mid-flagged peers for Worcester County

Cross-state counties nearest Worcester County on flagged-system share (95.7%) and cumulative violation count (23,751). In-state neighbours stay on the compliance plate above.

Similar flagged-system rate

Nearest cross-state counties by % of SDWIS systems with at least one violation on record.

4 peers

Similar violation load

Nearest cross-state counties by cumulative SDWIS violation count (all systems in the county).

4 peers

Read our methodology · Check your water system - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 PFAS monitoring data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainWater

Compiled by PlainWater, Drinking Water Quality Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainWater is rendered directly from EPA SDWIS drinking-water data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on EPA SDWIS data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.