South Hero Fire District 4, VT
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.4 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.
About South Hero Fire District 4
South Hero Fire District 4 serves about 760 people through 320 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 surface water, in Grand Isle County, Vermont. EPA system ID: VT0020080; phone on file: 802-372-4000. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2022 (3.1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for South Hero Fire District 4 is 5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.4 ppb |
| 2022 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2016 | 5 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. South Hero Fire District 4's 3.4 ppb sits at the 79th percentile in Vermont and the 85th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
6 other systems share Grand Isle County; 1 of them has a higher latest lead result than South Hero Fire District 4. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| North Hero Water System | 2,750 | 0 (not detected) |
| Grand Isle Consolidated Water District | 1,600 | 2.8 ppb |
| Grand Isle Fire District 4 | 1,078 | 6.3 ppb |
| Alburgh Village Water System | 576 | 2.2 ppb |
| South Alburgh Fire District 2 | 300 | 0.6 ppb |
| Alburgh Fire District 1 | 87 | 1 ppb |
Next steps for South Hero, VT
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; South Hero, 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 South Hero Fire District 4 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.