Westerly Water Department

Water Quality Snapshot: Westerly Water Department

Westerly Water Department is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 35,298 residents in Westerly, Rhode Island (Washington County) through 14,800 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 344 total violations for this system , of which 51 (15%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 263 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 51 violations (MCL, health-based). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 7 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 10 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Rhode Island, EPA tracks 463 public water systems serving 1,159,492 people, with 33,766 cumulative violations and 8,949 health-based violations on record. About 96% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 72.9 violations. Statewide, 15 of 29 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (51.7%).

Westerly Water Department's 344 violations sit above the Rhode Island average.

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