Bellows Falls Water Dept, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.8 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Who runs the water here
Bellows Falls Water Dept serves about 4,000 people through 1,950 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Windham County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005298; phone on file: 802-463-3964. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Bellows Falls Water Dept's lead record
That is up 1.8 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bellows Falls Water Dept is 1.8 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.8 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 372 Vermont systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 7 are over 15 ppb right now and 65 have gone over at some point. Bellows Falls Water Dept's 1.8 ppb sits at the 57th percentile in Vermont and the 68th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Windham County
42 other systems share Windham County; 21 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bellows Falls Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Brattleboro Water Dept | 12,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Winhall Stratton F D 1 | 6,200 | 1.9 ppb |
| Chimney Hill | 2,594 | 4.6 ppb |
| Town Of Wilmington Water System | 1,400 | 2 ppb |
| Putney Water System | 1,300 | 2.6 ppb |
| Timber Creek Coa Inc | 1,116 | 4.8 ppb |
| Cold Brook Fd Base Area | 761 | 14.3 ppb |
| Cold Brook Fire District 1 | 700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Seasons On Mount Snow | 623 | 1.7 ppb |
| Greensprings | 485 | 2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bellows Falls, VT may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Bellows Falls Water Dept whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.