Orleans Water System, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.7 ppb (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. 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.
Orleans Water System at a glance
Orleans Water System serves about 846 people through 340 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Orleans County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005190; phone on file: 802-754-6913. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2024 (3.7 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Orleans Water System is 4.7 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.7 ppb |
| 2024 | 3.7 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2018 | 2.4 ppb |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
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. Orleans Water System's 4.7 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Vermont and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
21 other systems share Orleans County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Orleans Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Jay Peak Water System | 6,740 | 3 ppb |
| Newport City Water System | 4,766 | 2.3 ppb |
| Derby Center Water System | 1,400 | 2 ppb |
| Barton Water System | 950 | 2 ppb |
| North Troy Water System | 864 | 2.5 ppb |
| Greensboro Fire District 1 | 551 | 1.1 ppb |
| Craftsbury Fire District 2 | 420 | 2.8 ppb |
| Newport Center Water System | 330 | 0.7 ppb |
| Troy Water System | 315 | 5.9 ppb |
| Derby Mhp | 265 | 0.6 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Orleans, 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 Orleans 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.