Officials: Worcester water safe

Given the broad coverage given the Flint, Michigan lead-tainted water disaster, some people might wonder just how safe this county’s water systems are.

In short, they’re in good shape. Though there may be trace amounts of lead found in county or town water, the amounts are well below tolerance and even then it shows up only because lab tests employed here are so sensitive, according to John Ross, county deputy director of public works.

“We pull water samples from homes, not at our water plants, and while the containment goal is zero it’s harder to get there because the labs are more sophisticated,” Ross said.

Ross said during the most recent round of testing, conducted annually, the county’s water tested in the two-to-six parts per billion range for lead, where the actionable level of the heavy metal is 15 parts per billion.

“It’s about a third of the actionable level,” Ross said.

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