Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.4 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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
Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div serves about 42,000 people through 9,900 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 Chittenden County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005053; phone on file: 802-863-4501. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (2.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div is 2.7 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2021 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.7 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. Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div's 1.4 ppb sits at the 50th percentile in Vermont and the 62nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
44 other systems share Chittenden County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| Hinesburg Water Dept | 2,800 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Burlington, VT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Burlington, 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 Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.