Yarmouth Water Department

Water Quality Snapshot: Yarmouth Water Department

Yarmouth Water Department is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 38,900 residents in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts (Barnstable County) through 16,357 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 54 total violations for this system , of which 12 (22%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 25 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2021.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Coliform (TCR), recorded in 10 violations (MCL, health-based). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 5 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 59.4 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

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%).

Yarmouth Water Department's 54 violations sit above 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.