Bog-country groundwater, not Monponsett Pond
Every gallon of Halifax's public water comes from four gravel-packed wells at two sites — Richmond Park (two wells, drilled 1965 and 1972) and the YMCA Camp site — not from Monponsett Pond, even though that 528-acre pond sits mostly within Halifax's own borders. Instead, Monponsett is seasonally diverted out to help supply Brockton's Silver Lake system, which in turn sells water to neighboring towns like Whitman.
The groundwater under Halifax's wells sits in the same iron- and manganese-rich geology that has historically supported the town's cranberry bogs, and the Richmond Park wells require dedicated potassium permanganate treatment to manage it. In late 2025, routine monthly testing at Richmond Park Well 1 also turned up a PFAS6 reading that, averaged over the quarter, landed exactly on Massachusetts' 20 parts-per-trillion legal limit.
| Issue | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Iron / manganese (discolored water) | Ongoing, treated at Richmond Park | Town Water Dept., UMass Amherst |
| PFAS6 at Richmond Park Well 1, Q4 2025 | 20 ppt quarterly average — at, not over, the MCL | Halifax Water Dept. public notice, 12/29/25 |
| PFOA / PFOS individually (federal 4 ppt limit) | No compound-level breakdown published | See Water data page |
See the full breakdown, sourcing, and where trackers disagree on the Water data page.
