Derby Center Water System, VT
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 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. 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.
Who runs the water here
Derby Center Water System serves about 1,400 people through 900 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 surface water, in Orleans County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005195; phone on file: 802-766-5313. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Derby Center Water System's lead record
Against the period ending 2022 (2.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Derby Center Water System is 39 ppb across 12 monitoring periods, 3 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 ppb |
| 2022 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2020 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2019 | 2.3 ppb |
| 2019 | 1.9 ppb |
| 2018 | 3.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 4.4 ppb |
| 2017 | 8.9 ppb |
| 2017 | 15.1 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 2.6 ppb |
| 2016 | 39 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 21 ppb over 15 |
How Derby Center Water System 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. Derby Center Water System's 2 ppb sits at the 62nd percentile in Vermont and the 72nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
21 other systems share Orleans County; 7 of them have a higher latest lead result than Derby Center Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jay Peak Water System | 6,740 | 3 ppb |
| Newport City Water System | 4,766 | 2.3 ppb |
| Barton Water System | 950 | 2 ppb |
| North Troy Water System | 864 | 2.5 ppb |
| Orleans Water System | 846 | 4.7 ppb |
| Greensboro Fire District 1 | 551 | 1.1 ppb |
| Craftsbury Fire District 2 | 420 | 2.8 ppb |
| Newport Center Water System | 330 | 0.7 ppb |
| Troy Water System | 315 | 5.9 ppb |
| Derby Mhp | 265 | 0.6 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Derby Line, 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 Derby Center 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.