Smugglers Notch Water System, VT
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4.9 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2023). 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
Smugglers Notch Water System serves about 2,960 people through 638 service connections, which makes it a small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws surface water, in Lamoille County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005151; phone on file: 802-730-2019. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 6 ppb from 10.9 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Smugglers Notch Water System is 19.3 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.9 ppb |
| 2022 | 10.9 ppb over 10 |
| 2021 | 8.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 12.3 ppb over 10 |
| 2020 | 12.3 ppb over 10 |
| 2019 | 19.3 ppb over 15 |
| 2016 | 11 ppb over 10 |
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. Smugglers Notch Water System's 4.9 ppb sits at the 87th percentile in Vermont and the 90th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Lamoille County
21 other systems share Lamoille County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Smugglers Notch Water System. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Stowe Water Dept | 3,600 | 14.3 ppb |
| Morrisville Water And Light | 2,935 | 2.4 ppb |
| Johnson Village Water Dept | 1,350 | 2.2 ppb |
| Jeffersonville Water System | 700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hyde Park Water System | 462 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sterling View Cooperative Community Inc | 290 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hyde Park Fire District 1 | 275 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cambridge Village Water | 262 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mountainside Resort | 240 | 2.7 ppb |
| Notchbrook Condominium | 201 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; East Burke, 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 Smugglers Notch 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Why an old exceedance still matters: over the limit before, under it now.