Somerset Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Somerset, Massachusetts, in Bristol County — a Bristol County town adjacent to Swansea and Fall River on the Taunton River at Mount Hope Bay in southeast Massachusetts, directly across from Rhode Island — receives its municipal water from Bristol County Water Authority or Somerset Water Division, drawing from the Taunton River watershed (Watuppa Ponds, Fall River) or local Bristol County reservoirs.

The extremely soft 29 mg/L hardness and very low TDS of 47.2 mg/L are among the softest in the USA — consistent with the Narragansett Basin and Eastern Massachusetts Coastal Plain supply, which consistently produces the softest water in the country. The Somerset area drains the Narragansett Basin — Pennsylvanian Rhode Island Formation (insoluble quartz-rich coal-bearing argillite and metaconglomerate), Precambrian Esmond Granodiorite and Milford Granite (insoluble crystalline), and Pleistocene outwash sand (essentially silica-only). The entirely insoluble silicate bedrock produces the near-distilled water characteristic of Rhode Island-Bristol County supplies.

At 29 mg/L, Somerset's water is essentially distilled — no scale ever forms, soap lathers maximally, and appliances achieve theoretical maximum lifespan. No descaling is ever needed. The PFAS level of 5.1 ppt warrants a certified drinking water filter — the Taunton River industrial legacy (Fall River-Taunton textile mill PFAS), South Weymouth Naval Air Station (AFFF in the Taunton watershed), and the southeast Massachusetts PFAS background contribute to Somerset's readings.