Essex Town Water System, VT
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
About Essex Town Water System
Essex Town Water System serves about 9,734 people through 3,325 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized 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: VT0005065; phone on file: 802-878-1344. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Essex Town Water System's lead record
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Essex Town Water System is 0 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
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. Essex Town Water System's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 28th percentile in Vermont and the 37th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Chittenden County
44 other systems share Chittenden County; 23 of them have a higher latest lead result than Essex Town Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Burlington Dept Public Works Water Div | 42,000 | 1.4 ppb |
| South Burlington City Water System | 19,500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Colchester Water System | 11,299 | 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) |
Your move
Look up your address in Essex Town Water System's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Essex Town 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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.