Sheldon Water System, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 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.
Who runs the water here
Sheldon Water System serves about 480 people through 179 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Franklin County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005127; phone on file: 802-933-2524. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sheldon Water System is 10 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 10 ppb |
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. Sheldon Water System's 1 ppb sits at the 43rd percentile in Vermont and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
21 other systems share Franklin County; 10 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sheldon Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| St Albans Water Dept | 10,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Swanton Village Water | 4,000 | 5 ppb |
| Enosburg Falls Water System | 1,700 | 2.2 ppb |
| Richford Water System | 1,700 | 1.6 ppb |
| Fairfax Water Dept | 1,550 | 0 (not detected) |
| Montgomery Water System | 530 | 1.6 ppb |
| South Georgia Fire District | 500 | 0 (not detected) |
| Bakersfield Fire District 1 | 446 | 2 ppb |
| Franklin Water System | 400 | 0.8 ppb |
| East Berkshire Fire District 1 | 184 | 0.6 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sheldon, 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 Sheldon 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.