Melrose, Massachusetts
Melrose Water Quality
MWRA reservoir water through Melrose's own pipes. The City's 2025 letter shows lead at 10.2 ppb at the 90th percentile — with two homes over the action level — under a MassDEP order to remove at least 25 complete lead services a year.
Lead 10.2 ppb at the 90th percentile · MassDEP ACO ≥25 complete LSL/year · 381 lead on inventory.
The short answer
Melrose drinks MWRA water from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, disinfected with chloramine. Its September 2025 lead result was 10.2 ppb at the 90th percentile — under the 15 ppb action level — with two of 20 homes over the limit.
The bigger local story is the consent order: Melrose must complete at least 25 full lead-service removals a year, against an inventory that still listed 381 lead services. Check your service line on the City map first; a tap test then tells you what in-house plumbing still contributes.
Get a free test
Tell us your Melrose address. We confirm coverage first, then schedule a licensed technician to test at your tap — no charge, no obligation.
What filtration does — and does not
Softening, carbon and reverse osmosis solve different problems. A filter is not a substitute for replacing a lead service line.
Where Melrose water comes from
The same reservoirs as Boston, through Melrose's own pipes.
Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs
Melrose purchases all of its drinking water from the MWRA, whose sources are the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs in central and western Massachusetts.
Treated at the Carroll plant
MWRA's John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant in Marlborough disinfects with ozone and UV, adds fluoride, adjusts pH and alkalinity to reduce lead corrosion, and finishes with monochloramine.
Then Melrose's own distribution
MWRA transmission mains feed about 90 miles of City pipes, hundreds of isolation valves and hydrants, and roughly 8,000 homes, businesses and other facilities.
What the 2025 Melrose report actually says
Limits are fixed. Results are from MWRA's 2025 Drinking Water Test Results for Melrose, including the City letter — system-level figures, not a reading at your tap. A later report supersedes them.
Lead — 10.2 ppb at the 90th percentile
Melrose's September 2025 round of 20 homes (plus two childcare/education sites): 10.2 ppb at the 90th percentile (range 0.128–130 ppb). Two of twenty residential samples exceeded the 15 ppb action level; the 90th percentile itself stayed under the AL.
Copper — 93.4 ppb
90th percentile across the same residential sites (range 18.8–96.3 ppb) against a 1,300 ppb action level. No sample exceeded the copper action level.
MassDEP ACO — ≥25 complete LSL removals a year
Under a voluntary Administrative Consent Order from MassDEP, Melrose must remove at least 25 complete lead service connections per year — public side and private side both free of lead.
381 known lead services on the inventory
The updated inventory submitted under the Lead and Copper Rule listed 7,964 services: 381 lead, 23 galvanized requiring replacement, 216 unknown and 7,344 non-lead (92.2%). Letters went to 718 customers.
$1,000 private-side incentive
Property owners who replace a private lead service are eligible for a $1,000 incentive toward the cost. The City Engineering Division can provide a list of bonded contractors.
Coliform — all negatives in 2025
Melrose tests nine locations weekly. Every sample taken in 2025 tested negative for coliform bacteria and E. coli.
Melrose next to Malden, Medford and Arlington
Next door, Malden crossed the lead action level in fall 2025. Medford is under its own MassDEP consent order after a 15.5 ppb result. Arlington (Massachusetts, not Virginia) cut known lead services from 30 to 3. Melrose sits between those stories: under the AL at the 90th percentile, still chasing hundreds of known lead services under an ACO.
Where these figures come from
Everything on this page traces to MWRA and the City of Melrose Department of Public Works.
- MWRA — 2025 Drinking Water Test Results, with the City of Melrose letter (PDF) — MWRA sources, treatment and detected contaminants; Melrose's lead and copper results, ACO obligations, inventory counts and coliform compliance.
- City of Melrose — Engineering / service-line map — Check your Water Service Material and related lead-in-water materials.
Matching treatment to the finding
Melrose's report supports checking your service line and a chloramine-aware filter choice — not a default equipment sale.
Look up your service line on the City map
Melrose maintains a service-material map at cityofmelrose.org/engineering (Check your Water Service Material). If yours shows lead, GRR or unknown, the ACO program comes before any filter.
Complete replacement is the City standard
The ACO defines a complete removal as both the public side (main to curb) and the private side (curb to meter) free of lead. Ask whether your address is already queued.
Certified lead filter as a stopgap
Until a lead service is replaced, a filter certified to reduce lead at the kitchen tap is the practical stopgap — not a substitute for the pipe.
Chloramine taste: catalytic carbon or RO
MWRA finishes with monochloramine. Ordinary carbon handles free chlorine better than chloramine. If taste or odour is the complaint, catalytic carbon or reverse osmosis is the right tool.
How the free test works
A licensed technician tests at your kitchen tap, walks the plumbing, and tells you which of the findings above applies to your house and which does not. There is no charge and no obligation.
Seamless Home is the licensed contractor of record on the work that follows. Installation is performed by vetted installing partners engaged as our subcontractors, and the workmanship obligation stays with us. Coverage is confirmed per service area rather than promised as blanket availability.
What a water treatment job with us covers
Installation and replacement of whole-home and point-of-use treatment, specified against what your water actually contains.
Sediment filtration
Installation of the first stage that protects everything downstream of it, sized to the service line and the household draw.
Softening
Installation of ion-exchange softening where hardness is the problem, including the drain connection the plumbing code treats as indirect waste.
Carbon filtration
Installation of carbon stages for taste, odour and disinfection by-products, specified from your utility's own water quality report.
Reverse osmosis
Point-of-use installation at the kitchen sink where the target is dissolved solids rather than whole-home flow.
Disinfection
Installation of UV or equivalent treatment where the supply is a private well or is otherwise not continuously disinfected.
System replacement
Replacing equipment that has reached the end of its service life, including the discharge and air gap details an inspector looks at.
This is installation and replacement work, specified from a published water quality report or a test of your supply — not from a sales chart. Coverage is confirmed per service area rather than promised as blanket availability.
What the work actually looks like
Treatment equipment is plumbing. Most of the job is the connection, the drain and the code detail behind it.
Melrose water, answered plainly
Where does Melrose's water come from?+
From the MWRA. Melrose buys all of its treated water from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, treated at the John J. Carroll plant in Marlborough, and delivers it through the City's own distribution system.
Did Melrose exceed the lead action level?+
The 90th percentile in September 2025 was 10.2 ppb — under the 15 ppb action level — but two of twenty residential samples were over the AL. Copper stayed under its action level.
What is the MassDEP consent order about?+
A voluntary Administrative Consent Order requires Melrose to remove at least 25 complete lead service connections each year. The City's goal is to have all feasible lead services removed by 2032.
How many lead services does Melrose still have?+
The inventory at the submission date listed 381 lead services, 23 galvanized requiring replacement, 216 unknown and 7,344 non-lead.
Does Melrose use chlorine or chloramine?+
Chloramine. MWRA disinfects with monochloramine before the water reaches Melrose's meters.
Where do these figures come from?+
MWRA's 2025 Drinking Water Test Results for Melrose, which includes the City of Melrose Department of Public Works letter (PWS 3178000). Third-party aggregators are not used. A later report supersedes these figures.
Related resources
Home water purification and treatment
The national service page behind this one.
Learn more →Malden water quality
Next door: fall 2025 lead action-level exceedance.
Learn more →Medford water quality
MWRA water under a MassDEP consent order for lead.
Learn more →Arlington MA water quality
Known lead services cut from 30 to 3 by year-end 2025.
Learn more →All home services
Water, battery, HVAC and solar under one licensed contractor of record.
Learn more →Get a free test at your tap
A licensed technician tests at your kitchen tap and tells you which findings apply to your house — lead from older plumbing, chloramine taste or none of them. No charge, no obligation, and coverage confirmed at your address first.
Get a free test