Pownal Fire District 2, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.3 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.
Pownal Fire District 2 at a glance
Pownal Fire District 2 serves about 682 people through 200 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 Bennington County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0020734; phone on file: 802-379-1711. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Pownal Fire District 2's lead record
That is up 1.3 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Pownal Fire District 2 is 5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.3 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 5 ppb |
How Pownal Fire District 2 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. Pownal Fire District 2's 1.3 ppb sits at the 48th percentile in Vermont and the 60th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Bennington County
24 other systems share Bennington County; 13 of them have a higher latest lead result than Pownal Fire District 2. 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) |
| Dorset Fire District 1 | 530 | 2.1 ppb |
| Readsboro Town Of | 375 | 1.7 ppb |
| Piper Ridge Condominium | 362 | 1.9 ppb |
Next steps for Pownal, VT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Pownal, 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 Pownal Fire District 2 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.