How many public water systems are in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has 465 active public water systems in EPA SDWIS records, including 89 community water systems. Together they report serving 1.2M people.

What is the largest water system in Rhode Island?

Providence-City of is the largest active public water system in Rhode Island, serving a reported 333,142 people.

Does Rhode Island rely more on groundwater or surface water?

93.8% of Rhode Island's active public water systems draw primarily on groundwater and 6.2% on surface water (including purchased supplies).

Rhode Island public water systems

465 active systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, serving a reported 1.2M people across 5 counties.

Dataset updated July 2026 . Source: EPA SDWIS/ECHO, refreshed quarterly.

Active systems

465

Population served

1.2M

Community systems

Groundwater share

93.8%

System types in Rhode Island

Community water system

Non-transient non-community water system

295

Transient non-community water system

Largest water systems in Rhode Island

The largest active public water systems in Rhode Island by population served
#	Water system	County	Population served	Type	Source
1	Providence-City of	Providence	333,142	Community	Surface water
2	Pawtucket Water Supply Board Veolia-Na	Providence	98,130	Community	Surface water
3	Kent County Water Authority	Kent	88,779	Community	Purchased surface water
4	Warwick-City of	Kent	73,289	Community	Purchased surface water
5	Bristol County Water Authority	Bristol	49,000	Community	Purchased surface water
6	East Providence-City of	Providence	47,618	Community	Purchased surface water
7	Woonsocket Water Division	Providence	45,828	Community	Surface water
8	Newport-City of	Newport	42,155	Community	Surface water
9	Westerly Water Department	Washington	35,298	Community	Groundwater
10	North Kingstown Town of	Washington	27,732	Community	Groundwater
11	Veolia Water Wakefield Rhode Island Inc.	Washington	22,347	Community	Groundwater
12	Lincoln Water Commission	Providence	21,664	Community	Purchased surface water
13	Cumberland, Town of	Providence	21,235	Community	Purchased surface water
14	University of Rhode Island	Washington	19,354	Community	Groundwater
15	Portsmouth Water & Fire District	Newport	17,090	Community	Purchased surface water
16	Quonset Business Park	Washington	13,000	Non-transient non-community	Groundwater
17	Cne - New London Turnpike Entry Point	Kent	9,999	Community	Purchased groundwater
18	Block Island Water Company	Washington	9,999	Community	Groundwater
19	Greenville Water District	Providence	9,500	Community	Purchased surface water
20	Smithfield Water Supply Board	Providence	9,460	Community	Purchased surface water
21	North Tiverton Fire District	Newport	8,969	Community	Purchased surface water
22	Narragansett Water System-Point Judith	Washington	8,210	Community	Purchased groundwater
23	Brown University Health-Ri Hospital	Providence	8,040	Non-transient non-community	Purchased surface water
24	Naval Station, Newport	Newport	7,870	Community	Purchased surface water
25	South Kingstown-South Shore	Washington	6,170	Community	Groundwater

By county

Washington188 systems Providence182 systems Newport47 systems Kent42 systems Bristol4 systems