South Burlington City Water System, VT
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2025-2027). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
South Burlington City Water System serves about 19,500 people through 8,205 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Chittenden County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0005091; phone on file: 802-864-7454. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
South Burlington City Water System's lead record
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for South Burlington City Water System is 0 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2027 | 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. South Burlington City Water System's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 30th percentile in Vermont and the 38th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Chittenden County
44 other systems share Chittenden County; 23 of them have a higher latest lead result than South Burlington City Water System. 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 |
| 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) |
| Hinesburg Water Dept | 2,800 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for South Burlington, VT
Look up your address in South Burlington City Water System's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask South Burlington City 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.