Bennington Water Dept, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.2 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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.
Bennington Water Dept at a glance
Bennington Water Dept serves about 13,250 people through 6,911 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Bennington County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005016; phone on file: 802-442-1037. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Bennington Water Dept's lead record
That is down 12 ppb from 13.2 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bennington Water Dept is 13.2 ppb across 6 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (2 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2023 | 13.2 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 10.2 ppb over 10 |
| 2018 | 7.4 ppb |
| 2018 | 7.4 ppb |
| 2016 | 4 ppb |
How Bennington Water Dept compares
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. Bennington Water Dept's 1.2 ppb sits at the 47th percentile in Vermont and the 59th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
24 other systems share Bennington County; 14 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bennington Water Dept. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bromley Water Company | 4,300 | 3.4 ppb |
| Manchester Water Dept | 4,140 | 2 ppb |
| North Bennington Water Dept | 1,700 | 1.6 ppb |
| Arlington Water Dept | 1,250 | 2.2 ppb |
| Bennington College | 1,000 | 2.6 ppb |
| Shaftsbury Water System | 950 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pownal Fire District 2 | 682 | 1.3 ppb |
| Dorset Fire District 1 | 530 | 2.1 ppb |
| Readsboro Town Of | 375 | 1.7 ppb |
| Piper Ridge Condominium | 362 | 1.9 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Bennington, 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 Bennington 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.