Chimney Hill, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.6 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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
Chimney Hill serves about 2,594 people through 545 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Windham County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005312; phone on file: 802-464-2181. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Chimney Hill's lead record
That is up 1.5 ppb from 3.1 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Chimney Hill is 7.6 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.6 ppb |
| 2025 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2025 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.1 ppb |
| 2022 | 4.2 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2022 | 1.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2018 | 7.6 ppb |
How Chimney Hill 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. Chimney Hill's 4.6 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Vermont and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
42 other systems share Windham County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Chimney Hill. 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 |
| Bellows Falls Water Dept | 4,000 | 1.8 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; Wilmington, 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 Chimney Hill 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. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.