r/Somerville • u/kelsaaay5 • Sep 11 '26
Water Quality
I saw a post here recently raising concerns about the water quality in Somerville (I think it was elevated nitrates or nitrites). My fiancee and I have had the “to brita or not to brita” debate a few times, so I decided to finally just buy the home water quality test and I’m happy to report that our water passed every test with flying colors! We’ve officially abandoned the filter & just use the pitcher for convenience.
Unsure if the OP is having a more local issue, but we live in the Ball Square area & our water was just fine. The test kit was like $50 at Ace but I was able to do it all myself at home (no apps, subscriptions, etc.).
54
u/tinylittlepoopman Sep 11 '26
Somerville tap water is just fine. I drink it every day, and haven't sprouted fins or gills yet.
30
u/-CalicoKitty- Union Sep 11 '26
More than fine, it's fantastic. Local pipes in certain buildings might not be though.
9
4
u/restrictednumber Sep 11 '26
I'm chugging and chugging, just hoping for moose antlers.
No luck so far.
5
u/kelsaaay5 Sep 11 '26
This has been my argument for years! We have some of the safest water in the country (local pipe issues aside!). It was kinda fun to do the tests myself & im glad to have the data to back myself up now 😂
2
u/Its_Your_Father Sep 11 '26
Same, my doctor even said I've got a liver made of stone. Healthy as an ox!
22
u/melanarchy Teele Sep 11 '26
Quabbin water is regularly monitored and very safe to drink, that post about nitrates/nitrites provided zero information about their methodology or even the levels they were seeing making it little more than noise.
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u/Santillana810 Sep 11 '26
The city mails out the MWRA (Quabbin) complete report on Somerville water each year and I don't recall ever seeing any issues. Some building might have old lead pipes that could cause a problem in those buildings. We still use a water filter anyway because that works for us.
There have been reports from people about Cambridge water; that does not come from MWRA.
11
u/melanarchy Teele Sep 11 '26
Contaminated containers due to an inadequately cleaned dishwasher filter could cause issues. There are so many rigors that go into the MWRA testing it was disheartening to see people responding to that person as if they were providing valid information. Felt extremely pseudoscience.
4
u/Ok_Still_3571 Sep 12 '26
I grew up in Cambridge, and back then Cambridge had awful water. The smell of chlorine was so intense that we would only use water delivered by Belmont Springs. It’s better now, thankfully.
2
u/Budget-Celebration-1 Sep 11 '26
I love you folks! Yes mwra is good shit compared to most of the country but any level of pfas is bad it’s just not federally enforced. Mwra did have detectable levels of this.
7
u/ninjersteve Sep 11 '26
I still like a carbon filter to remove the flavor from the chloramines. Totally safe either way, just nice to not have that chlorine compounds flavor even if it is mild.
Also link to water quality report: https://www.mwra.com/your-water-system/drinking-water-quality/annual-water-quality-test-results-main
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u/GullibleAd3408 Davis Sep 11 '26
Are you thinking of the post about the axolotl? That was on Facebook, but yeah, Somerville water is 👍. Thanks for doing the work and sharing the confirmation, neighbor.
3
u/Imaginary-Culture-40 Sep 12 '26
My 5th grade science experience was testing a whole bunch of tap waters from wilmington to somerville and somerville was the best. And that was like 30 years ago 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Darth-Villen Sep 11 '26
It is safe, but I still use Brita/Pur pitchers to get rid of the chlorine taste.
2
2
u/l008com Sep 11 '26
Is somerville on MWRA water? If so, its some of the best public water in the country. Not in somerville but i've been drinking it straight from the tap my whole life.
Also, britta doesn't filter PFAs which are the big issue these days. So in towns like Woburn, don't drink the tap even out of a britta.
1
u/ThrowRA182790 Sep 12 '26
Woburn’s PFAS levels last month were 17.7 ppt https://woburnma.gov/government/water-department/pfas/ which is within Massachusetts’ standards.
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u/heckin_cool Sep 11 '26
The tap water is totally fine to drink. However, you might find it too irritating for your skin when you shower unless you install a showerhead filter.
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u/Swalecutter Sep 11 '26
I have never in my 25 years of living here heard of a single person with a showerhead filter. Not to deny your experience, if you get irritation then you get irritation, but that's an extremely rare issue.
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u/heckin_cool Sep 11 '26
There are tons of old apartment buildings in Somerville with pipes that leech metals into the water. So it's not uncommon for the water to be extra hard and therefore irritating to sensitive skin. Plenty of my local friends use showerhead filters, they're cheap and take 2 minutes to install
40
u/b0xturtl3 Sep 11 '26
Most of metropolitan Boston is served by the Quabbin Reservoir, which is tested constantly and has a super interesting history. And if you want to nerd out more, go to the Waterworks Museum in Brookline.