Orleans Water Department

Water Quality Snapshot: Orleans Water Department

Orleans Water Department is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 18,921 residents in Orleans, Massachusetts (Barnstable County) through 5,363 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 40 total violations for this system , of which 3 (8%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 32 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2024.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Coliform (TCR), recorded in 3 violations (MCL, health-based). This system was sampled under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program and no PFAS compounds were detected above the minimum reporting level.

Across Massachusetts, EPA tracks 1,599 public water systems serving 10,332,845 people, with 73,886 cumulative violations and 7,389 health-based violations on record. About 95% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 46.2 violations. Statewide, 148 of 263 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (56.3%).

Orleans Water Department's 40 violations sit below the Massachusetts average.

All figures above are sourced directly from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 public data releases and are updated as EPA publishes new reporting cycles.