County water report

Essex County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Essex County, Massachusetts.

Water grade

Water score

70.4

State rank

of 14

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

Not reported

EPA ATTAINS coverage varies by state

Monitoring sites

283

48,061 recent measurements

Live streamflow

46%

IPSWICH RIVER NEAR IPSWICH, MA

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Essex County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 70.4 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

Not reported

Coverage varies by state

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

46% of mean

IPSWICH RIVER NEAR IPSWICH, MA

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

283

48,061 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

70.4/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

0.8

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Essex County has 2 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #125 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

60.2

0-100 index

Facility count

45.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+20.4

Compared with US county median

Named operators

AWS

Mapped facilities

AMAZON COM SERVICES LLC DTB9
HAVERHILL · Amazon Data Services
EPA ECHO
OpenStreetMap data center 211832626
Andover · TierPoint
OSM

See the Essex County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

Estimate daily water use for a hypothetical facility in Essex County.

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayModerate Impact

Your facility would use 12.9% of this county's industrial water baseline — manageable but worth monitoring against drought trends.

12.9% of county industrial baseline5.40 Mgal/day remaining headroom

Based on USGS 2020 water-use data and EPA-standard cooling intensity constants. Not a substitute for site-specific water rights analysis.

Editorial analysis

Understanding Essex County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Essex County earns an A grade for drinking water quality, scoring 70.4 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 7 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T15:00:00.000-04:00) puts IPSWICH RIVER at 89.9 cfs — well below its long-term average at 46% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Essex County has extensive coverage with 283 active monitoring sites with 48,061 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and microbiological. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Essex County

Water Verdict

Essex County, Massachusetts receives a good water quality assessment with a grade of A and a score of 70.4 out of 100. While the water supply is generally safe, occasional monitoring gaps or minor contaminant detections may occur. The county's primary USGS gauge drains roughly 125 square miles of upstream watershed, giving local source waters a regional footprint. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 46.0% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Essex County, Massachusetts show 7 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 0.8 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is relatively low compared to many U.S. counties. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 48,061 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water compliance data for Essex County shows a A grade. Essex County's drinking-water compliance score is 70.4 out of 100. Reviewing your utility's most recent Consumer Confidence Report provides the most accurate picture of detected contaminants and treatment status. An NSF-certified water filter can add an extra layer of safety for any household concerns. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the IPSWICH RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Essex County has water quality close to the average county in Massachusetts. Its water score is within 1.3 points of the state average, meaning its overall water system performance is broadly representative of Massachusetts as a whole.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Essex County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Essex County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Essex County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Essex County

Consumer Confidence Reports (MA)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Massachusetts

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

283

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

48K

48,061 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Microbiological
Nutrient

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

89.9cfs

May 14, 7:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

46%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

IPSWICH RIVER NEAR IPSWICH, MA

USGS site: 01102000
Drainage area: 125 sq mi
Long-term mean: 196 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

Free tool

Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

Household size

3 people · ~225 gal/day

Filter type

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Essex County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

Try the full calculator →

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Essex County, Massachusetts?

Essex County, Massachusetts has a drinking-water quality grade of A with a score of 70.4/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 7 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.

Are there any water violations in Essex County?

Essex County has 7 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.

How much water-quality monitoring happens in Essex County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 48,061 measurements from 283 monitoring sites in Essex County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Microbiological, Nutrient. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.

What's happening with rivers in Essex County right now?

Essex County's primary USGS streamgage on the IPSWICH RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 89.9 cubic feet per second — 46% of the long-term mean of 195.59 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.

How does Essex County water compare to the Massachusetts average?

Essex County's SDWIS water quality score of 70.4/100 is higher than the Massachusetts state average of 69.1. The average water quality grade across Massachusetts is C, based on data from 14 counties with available SDWIS data.

Is tap water safe to drink in Essex County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Essex County has a water quality grade of A (70.4/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).

Why does Essex County have so many water violations?

Essex County has 7 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.

How does Essex County rank for water quality in Massachusetts?

Essex County ranks #5 out of 14 counties in Massachusetts by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 70.4/100, it falls in the top third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Barnstable County

Massachusetts

71.5

Water score

Middlesex County

Massachusetts

68.0

Water score

Hampshire County

Massachusetts

67.5

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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