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A recent article in the Boston Globe discusses arsenic in drinking water, and how it is often detected in the New England area.  MWRA test for arsenic at four locations along the MWRA system and has not detected arsenic in the water supply since 2001.  Furthermore, all results from 2001 or earlier are far below EPA’s new stricter standards. 

Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA has lowered the arsenic standard from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.  The rule took effect in 2006. 

In over 150 samples since November 2001, MWRA laboratories found no detectable quantities of arsenic in any of the samples.  The last detected quaintly of arsenic was 1.2 ppb in October 2001, well below the new stricter EPA standards.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring mineral that comes from erosion of rocks and soil. In the U.S., highest arsenic levels are found in the Southwest and parts of the Midwest, West, and New England. Communities served by ground water supplies, rather than reservoirs and streams, are more likely to find higher arsenic levels.

MWRA drinking water comes from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs in Central Massachusetts, very large reservoirs with high water quality that do not have high levels of arsenic.

MWRA routinely tests for 122 contaminants. Overall testing results for 2008 will be published in MWRA’s Annual Water Quality Report distributed this June to every household in MWRA’s water service area.
Copies of prior annual reports are available online at www.mwra.com or by calling 617-242-5323.

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Updated March 6, 2009