Berlin Municipal Water System, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
Berlin Municipal Water System at a glance
Berlin Municipal Water System serves about 1,819 people through 303 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Washington County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0021202; phone on file: 802-793-9158. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2025 (3 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Berlin Municipal Water System is 3 ppb across 15 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 ppb |
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 2.2 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2017 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 2 ppb |
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. Berlin Municipal Water System's 2 ppb sits at the 63rd percentile in Vermont and the 72nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
41 other systems share Washington County; 15 of them have a higher latest lead result than Berlin Municipal Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Barre City Water System | 14,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Montpelier Water System | 8,912 | 2 ppb |
| Edward Farrar Utility District | 6,003 | 2.2 ppb |
| Northfield Water Dept | 5,145 | 5 ppb |
| Mountain Water Company | 2,400 | 1.8 ppb |
| Barre Town Water System | 1,638 | 0 (not detected) |
| Central Vermont Medical Center | 1,528 | 6.1 ppb |
| Plainfield Water System | 985 | 2.6 ppb |
| Graniteville Fire District 4 | 700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Waitsfield Water Supply | 450 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Berlin, 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 Berlin Municipal Water System 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.