The City of Salem receives its drinking water from the Ipswich River and three reservoirs: Wenham Lake, Putnamville, and Longham. This water goes to a filtration plant, run by the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board, located in Beverly, Massachusetts. There, the water is treated to remove naturally occurring impurities as required by federal law; and the water is delivered to pumping stations owned by Salem. Currently Salem uses about 1.9 billion gallons of drinking water per year. Click on the Water Quality Report to obtain recent copies of this report describing water resources and treated water quality data.
The Salem Water Department is responsible for billing each household and commercial account in the City, and also resolving billing questions, and meter replacement.
This Department receives grants to help promote water conservation. In early 2007, the City received a number of water conservation devices that were distributed free to residents on a first come first serve basis. We have recently purchased some additional devices that are now available to the general public at cost, and can be purchased by check, made out to the City of Salem, at 120 Washington Street, 4th floor.
The types of questions we can help you with include:
Why is the City currently liening water bills and how will this affect my bill?
Questions on water and sewer bills (final readings, history, estimates, usage, etc.)
Brown water questions (run cold water until it runs clear)
Do we allow payment plans? (no)
How can I read my meter? (like a 6 digit carodometer)
Why didn’t I get my discount? (only on water portion, must pay before the date noted on the bill)
How do I purchase new meters? (Contact the Water Dept. - you must pay by check)
Why did I get an estimated bill?
How can I fix my leaky meter?
Other water related questions that can be answered at Department of Public Works, 978-744-3302, include:
Why don’t I have any water?
There is a water leak in my street, what should I do?
Hydrant Flushing?
Brown water questions?
How can I shut off/turn on my water?
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