Bolton Community Water System, VT
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2028). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
About Bolton Community Water System
Bolton Community Water System serves about 1,030 people through 144 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Chittenden County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005051; phone on file: 802-343-7423. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Bolton Community Water System's lead record
That is down 3.4 ppb from 4.8 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Bolton Community Water System is 51 ppb across 11 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2028 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2023 | 4.8 ppb |
| 2022 | 6 ppb |
| 2021 | 5.9 ppb |
| 2020 | 6.1 ppb |
| 2019 | 6.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 7.6 ppb |
| 2018 | 12.9 ppb over 10 |
| 2018 | 7.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 51 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 8 ppb |
Against other Vermont systems
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. Bolton Community Water System's 1.4 ppb sits at the 50th percentile in Vermont and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
44 other systems share Chittenden County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than Bolton Community Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div | 42,000 | 1.4 ppb |
| South Burlington City Water System | 19,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Colchester Water System | 11,299 | 0 (not detected) |
| Essex Town Water System | 9,734 | 0 (not detected) |
| Essex Jct Water Dept | 9,500 | 0.7 ppb |
| Winooski Water Dept | 8,500 | 0.4 ppb |
| Colchester Fire District 2 | 8,300 | 0 (not detected) |
| Milton Water Dept | 8,260 | 0 (not detected) |
| Williston Water Dept | 7,259 | 1.2 ppb |
| Shelburne Water Dept | 5,764 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Richmond, VT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Richmond, 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 Bolton Community 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.