How Bad is the Water?

Submitted by Unfair_Good6326 t3_z8bbbc in vermont

Generally speaking, how bad is the drinking water quality in Vermont? I’m new to a town with elevated manganese levels in the town well and I keep getting mixed responses from locals about whether the water is drinkable or not (the town’s official line is that it’s safe except for young children or the elderly … but that doesn’t sound great to me). I’ve started buying gallons of drinking water at a time, which is expensive and probably isn’t great for me either because of the plastic, but I don’t know which option is worse. The more research I do, the more I hear of drinking water supply horror stories in towns across the state. What do you think? Is the water generally safe? How does it compare to other states? What will water quality be like in a few decades with all of the town wells aging? I’d also appreciate any recommendations for local water quality advocacy groups that might be able to provide guidance on these questions. Thanks!

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_iyasbpw wrote

I have high manganese.it smells a little, more at specific times. It is safe though.

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TurnTurnVT t1_iyasg1v wrote

Assuming you are on a public water system I'd put this question to your town's water operator. Every public water system in Vermont needs to have a certified water operator and they'd be able to answer specific questions.

You can find out more about your water system and some contact info here through this State database:

https://anrweb.vt.gov/DEC/DWGWP/SearchWS.aspx

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willowbeest t1_iyat9vz wrote

Town well?!

Most of the places I've lived here have been too far from town to get municipal services, or the town was too small to have municipal water. Right now I'm on a private well which has lots of manganese. We use a water softener, but there is still a lot of buildup. Haven't died of manganese yet. Home inspection noted high manganese, but not high enough to be of concern. Now you've got me thinking about it again though, so I'll be down in the trenches of the interwebz researching and feeding my hypochondria...

Fingers crossed!

Lots of places in the Champlain Valley have hard water from the limestone in the ground here. I'd be curious to hear about other parts of the state, if anyone can chime in with info!

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pickle443243 t1_iyavl3k wrote

How bad? Hmm. Well, all public water supply is regulated by the EPA and must meet the EPA requirements which in most cases sets the upper limit of how much of a contaminant can be in the water. Lots of “bad” things are naturally occurring in some areas. Requirements are stricter for tap water than for bottled water so it may not make sense to keep buying gallons if the water supplier is not violating the standards. What horror stories are you talking about? Yes, the drinking water is safe. But, infrastructure is old, and replacing it is costly and difficult, so it’s not really a matter of the wells going-bad, more so how to replace the aging infrastructure without a huge cost to the user. You can ask the town to send you the Consumer Confidence Report which should outline everything they add to the water and test results. If you want help interrupting, message me and I’ll help you understand the results.

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No-Ganache7168 t1_iyb09jl wrote

I have a well. The sulfur makes the water taste awful but isn’t unsafe. We have a whole house filter and the water tastes fine. However it still has enough iron in it to turn my shower orangey

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czo79 t1_iyb3ade wrote

Probably time to move somewhere safer. It's really bad here. I only drink maple syrup to be safe.

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KestrelVT t1_iyb4ci3 wrote

As others have mentioned, if you are connected to a Public Water Supply which it sounds like you are, there will be a Consumer Confidence Report which will provide information on the constituents of the water.

Likely why the town officials were cagy on the safety of the water is that they don't know. They aren't the scientists or public health officials making the guidelines and understanding of what those things do to people. They don't want to give wrong info and given that they don't know they will likely give very little info.

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JerryKook t1_iyb69t4 wrote

Yup, water is a big issue in Vermont. Not all wells are created equal.

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Internal-Fudge8578 t1_iyb8qax wrote

By horror stories are you referring to Richmond’s recent scandal? I’d say in general the water is safer here than a lot of parts of the country

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Jerry_Williams69 t1_iybrjox wrote

Moved here from Michigan. Check out the PFAS situations in Rockford MI, the Huron River, and Oscoda MI if you like cringing and being pissed off. My old neighborhood in New Hudson, MI was sick with cancers, autoimmune disorders, and infertility. The EPA "safe" level for PFAS in drinking is currently 0.004 PPT. It was 70 PPT just a few years ago. Open water samples in the Huron River 1/2 mile from my old house were as high as 54,000 PPT.

One of the draws of Vermont for my family is that the drinking water is generally clean. Sure there are a few super fund sites, but they are generally small and contained. I've been told that Burlington's water system produces some of the cleanest drinking water in the state. I have not tracked down stats to verify or disprove this.

I ended up assembling a big 10-stage water filtering and reverse osmosis system that helped a lot. I do not feel like this level of protection is required in most Vermont communities, but a reverse osmosis system could provide some piece of mind. Under sink units run from like $80 to $500 depending on the features included and brand. Did you know you Vermont has an extensive water sampling system that spans the whole state? Most of the time, the latest reports are published for the public to see here:

https://anrweb.vt.gov/DEC/DWGWP/SearchWS.aspx

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Jerry_Williams69 t1_iybs02l wrote

Replying to pickle443243 (#785,723)

The EPA was completely neutered during the Trump years. Did absolutely nothing for my community back in Michigan when a chrome plating company poisoned the Huron River with PFAS and hexavalent chrome. No fines, no lawsuits, no work stoppage, no remediation efforts, etc. Not sure if it is doing better now, but it the damage to the agency was extensive and left it unable to respond to glaring issues.

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AnyChipmunk t1_iybvcxa wrote

As others have said, you can talk to your town's water operator. All EPA guidelines for drinkable water are posted on their website. In all likelihood, the water is drinkable from a health standpoint. But if the water doesn't taste good, you can try a water filter.

Cheaper filters like Brita basically rely upon the physical filtration of the water to remove aromatics that can affect taste. If you want something more robust, Zero Water does actually filter out things like Mn (was used in a heavy metals lab I worked at years ago). This system does take much longer to filter the water, so you need to be more patient than with things like Brita. Other options are to install filtration systems in your house, but that can be expensive and if you rent not really an option.

You can always send in your water to be tested (not sure what the price is these days). Just be sure to follow the instructions (like letting water run for a certain amount of time).

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miss_antlers t1_iybvega wrote

Replying to No-Ganache7168 (#786,893)

Haha we have a high-iron well too. My parents, who both have short hair, didn’t believe me when I told them the water was fucking up my hair texture. Then I pointed out an orange stalagtite forming on the underside of the bath faucet. They broke down and got a water softener.

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johneerottn2dacore t1_iyc1yio wrote

Ask my poor peeps back in Flint Michigan how bad Vermont water is, compared to theirs... in my little flat lander experience? IT'S STELLAR!!!! 😆🤣😆😭

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Jerry_Williams69 t1_iyd583j wrote

Replying to Effinehright (#807,877)

The MI DEQ is shit, but the EPA operates at a federal level and was totally worthless during the Trump years. It is apples to apples because the EPA is not a state level agency. I'm sure the EPA has improved some since 2020, but it has a big hole to climb out of. I wouldn't count on the EPA to be real helpful right now.

I was originally from the Flint area. Moved just before the Flint water crisis just to get poisoned by the Huron River a few years later lol. The 6 months in-house water filters in Flint are going on a decade old. It is still bad in parts of the city and surrounding areas. Could have been fixed by now, but the GOP killed funding at both the state and federal level. Now the issue is mostly forgotten even though it is still ongoing for lots of people.

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Jerry_Williams69 t1_iyd6qyx wrote

Replying to Effinehright (#808,473)

EPA can enforce standards, fine violators, bring up charges for violations, require cleanups, etc. The EPA will often defer to state level enforcement if their actions would be redundant. The EPA can and used to step in when cases are too big (like Flint) or local enforcement has failed.

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Jerry_Williams69 t1_iyd8jje wrote

Replying to Effinehright (#808,897)

What are you on about? Enforcement can be state level, federal level, or both. The EPA will defer to state level enforcement for smaller cases like some bumkin dumping oil in a pond. They used to get heavily involved in massive cases like the Flint water crisis. I'm just bringing downhill to where you already are ;).

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