North Harbor, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.5 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. 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.
About North Harbor
North Harbor serves about 225 people through 56 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Chittenden County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0020002; phone on file: 802-249-0028. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
North Harbor's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (0.5 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for North Harbor is 2.1 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.5 ppb |
| 2021 | 0.5 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.1 ppb |
How North Harbor 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. North Harbor's 1.5 ppb sits at the 52nd percentile in Vermont and the 63rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
44 other systems share Chittenden County; 11 of them have a higher latest lead result than North Harbor. 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 Town Water System | 9,734 | 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) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Colchester, 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 North Harbor 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.