East Dorset Fire District 1, VT
Above the new 10 ppb level coming in 2027
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 12.6 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. Under the current 15 ppb rule this is not an exceedance, but it is above the 10 ppb action level that takes over in Nov 2027. Test your own tap; filter if your result shows lead.
About East Dorset Fire District 1
East Dorset Fire District 1 serves about 192 people through 80 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Bennington County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005021; phone on file: 802-379-0262. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 5.6 ppb from 7 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for East Dorset Fire District 1 is 12.6 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb (1 over 10 ppb).
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 12.6 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 7 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.1 ppb |
| 2016 | 1 ppb |
How East Dorset Fire District 1 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. East Dorset Fire District 1's 12.6 ppb sits at the 97th percentile in Vermont and the 98th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Bennington County
24 other systems share Bennington County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than East Dorset Fire District 1. 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 |
Next steps for Manchester Center, VT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Manchester Center, 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 East Dorset Fire District 1 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. See what changes at 10 ppb in 2027.