Dorset Community Housing, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.7 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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
Dorset Community Housing serves about 50 people through 24 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Bennington County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0020990; phone on file: 802-367-5245. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.7 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Dorset Community Housing is 2.5 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.7 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 2.5 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. Dorset Community Housing's 1.7 ppb sits at the 54th percentile in Vermont and the 66th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Bennington County
24 other systems share Bennington County; 9 of them have a higher latest lead result than Dorset Community Housing. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Bennington Water Dept | 13,250 | 1.2 ppb |
| Bromley Water Company | 4,300 | 3.4 ppb |
| Manchester Water Dept | 4,140 | 2 ppb |
| North Bennington Water Dept | 1,700 | 1.6 ppb |
| Arlington Water Dept | 1,250 | 2.2 ppb |
| Bennington College | 1,000 | 2.6 ppb |
| Shaftsbury Water System | 950 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pownal Fire District 2 | 682 | 1.3 ppb |
| Dorset Fire District 1 | 530 | 2.1 ppb |
| Readsboro Town Of | 375 | 1.7 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Manchester, 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 Dorset Community Housing 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.