We're kicking off this initiative with the finding that actually got a few of us looking closely at Duxbury's water in the first place: depending on which public tracker you check, you'll either see that the Duxbury Water Department has "0" recorded MCL violations as of its most recent update, or that it had a real one in 2021, when PFAS in the Partridge Road well exceeded the Massachusetts state standard by a wide margin and the town shut the well down. Both numbers are technically accurate — the difference is just whether a well that's been offline for five years still counts.
That's not even the most current part of the story. Water and Sewer Advisory Board testing reported in 2026 shows that five of the town's eight currently pumping well sites, plus the water Duxbury purchases from Marshfield for the Gurnet Road neighborhood, now test above a newer, stricter federal PFOA limit that didn't exist back in 2021. The town's response is a genuinely large undertaking — two planned treatment plants, water rates rising as much as 105% by 2029, and a years-long construction timeline — and we think residents deserve a plain-language way to follow all of it, not just the headline compliance number.
See the full breakdown, well by well, on our Water data page.
Long before there was a federal PFAS rule, there was a Massachusetts one. In October 2020, MassDEP finalized an enforceable drinking water standard — a Maximum Contaminant Level, or MCL — of 20 parts per trillion for the combined total of six PFAS compounds, a grouping the state calls "PFAS6": PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA, PFHpA, and PFDA.
This is the standard behind Duxbury's one recorded violation: in 2021, the Partridge Road well tested well above 20 ppt combined, and the town took it offline rather than try to blend it into compliance. The rest of the system's blended water has since tested under 10 ppt combined — genuinely compliant with the state standard, even as a separate, newer federal standard (below) tells a more complicated story about several individual wells.
Source: Mass.gov — Massachusetts PFAS Drinking Water Standard (MCL).
Until April 2024, there was no federal limit on PFAS in drinking water at all — only the Massachusetts state standard set in 2020. That changed when EPA finalized its National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for PFAS: the first time PFAS compounds have been individually, enforceably regulated at the federal level.
The rule set limits of 4 parts per trillion (ppt) each for PFOA and PFOS, 10 ppt each for three additional compounds (PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA), and a combined "Hazard Index" limit for mixtures of those plus PFBS. Water systems nationwide were given until 2027 to complete initial monitoring and until 2029 to come into full compliance.
For Duxbury, this rule is the whole ballgame right now: it's the reason five of the town's eight pumping well sites, plus the Marshfield-supplied Gurnet Road connection, are now flagged as exceeding a federal limit, even though the town's blended water already met the older, looser Massachusetts standard. PFOA specifically — not PFOS or any of the other regulated compounds — is the one driving Duxbury's numbers.
Source: Federal Register — PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation.
We're not going to soften this, and we're not going to overstate it either. As of the most recent reporting we could verify: the Partridge Road well, closed since 2021, is out of service and no longer contributing to the town's supply. The remaining active wells blend to comply with Massachusetts' 20 ppt combined PFAS6 standard. But five of eight currently pumping well sites — Lakeshore Drive, Damon 1 and 2, Millbrook, and Depot Street (itself still offline for a separate reason) — test above the federal government's newer 4 ppt individual PFOA limit, a standard that isn't required to be met until 2029 at the earliest. So does the water Duxbury buys from the Town of Marshfield for roughly 150 homes on Gurnet Road, which tested at 6.07–6.97 ppt in an April 2026 sample.
The Water and Sewer Advisory Board has recommended shutting down the Lakeshore Drive well specifically, and the town is designing two permanent treatment plants to bring the rest of the affected wells into compliance. None of this is a secret — it's been reported in local papers and discussed at public board meetings — but it also isn't front and center on the Water Department's own compliance summary, which is exactly the gap we exist to fill.
See the full compound-by-compound, well-by-well breakdown on our Water data page.
On May 18, 2026, EPA announced two proposals that affect the federal PFAS rule described above. The first would let water systems request a two-year extension — from 2029 to 2031 — to comply with the enforceable limits for PFOA and PFOS. The second would rescind the individual limits for three other PFAS compounds (PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA/GenX) and the combined "Hazard Index" limit for mixtures of those plus PFBS, on the grounds that EPA says the prior rulemaking didn't follow required Safe Drinking Water Act procedure.
What doesn't change for Duxbury: the 4 ppt limits for PFOA and PFOS individually are not part of either rescission proposal, and PFOA is specifically the compound driving Duxbury's exceedances. A compliance extension to 2031 would give the town's in-progress treatment plant construction more breathing room, but it doesn't change what the wells are actually reading today, and it doesn't change the case for testing your own household's water if you're on Lakeshore Drive, Pine Street, or the Marshfield-supplied Gurnet Road area in the meantime.
EPA held a virtual public hearing on July 7, 2026, and the public comment docket remained open through July 20, 2026. EPA has said it intends to finalize both rules before the end of 2026, but as of this writing neither proposal is final. Treat the 2024 rule as the current baseline until EPA actually finalizes a change.
See the full regulatory timeline for how this fits with the 2020 state standard and the 2024 federal rule.
System-wide data only tells part of the story — which well serves your street, home plumbing, and private wells can all change what actually comes out of your tap.
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