Karme Choling, VT
Exceeded the action level in the past
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 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
Karme Choling serves about 140 people through 4 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Caledonia County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005537; phone on file: 802-633-2384. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Karme Choling's lead record
Against the period ending 2020 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Karme Choling is 17.8 ppb across 9 monitoring periods, 2 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 1.6 ppb |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 1.2 ppb |
| 2017 | 17.8 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 16 ppb over 15 |
Where this result ranks
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. Karme Choling's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 14th percentile in Vermont and the 12th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Neighbouring systems
19 other systems share Caledonia County; 15 of them have a higher latest lead result than Karme Choling. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| St Johnsbury Water System | 5,000 | 0 (not detected) |
| Lyndonville Water System | 4,000 | 2.7 ppb |
| Hardwick Town Water System | 1,900 | 3.2 ppb |
| Burke Mountain Water Co | 1,058 | 1.1 ppb |
| Danville Fire District 1 | 500 | 1.3 ppb |
| St Johnsbury Center F D 1 | 370 | 6.7 ppb |
| East Hardwick Fire District 1 | 350 | 0.6 ppb |
| Barnet Fire District #2 | 205 | 8 ppb |
| Sutton Water System | 185 | 3.9 ppb |
| Mcindoe Falls Fire District 3 | 176 | 1.5 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Barnet, 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 Karme Choling 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. More in what a past exceedance means today.