Burlington, Vermont Water Outage Today

Burlington tap water system, by the numbers

The system behind most taps in Burlington is Burlington Department Public Works Water Div, which EPA records list as serving roughly 42,000 people. Customers know it as Burlington Department of Public Works – Water Resources; the name on your bill is the one to call.

Source water and treatment in Burlington

Burlington drinks surface water. Burlington Department Public Works Water Div draws it from Lake Champlain Primary and treats it before it goes into the distribution system. Treatment points named in EPA's facility list include Main Treatment Plant. After treatment the water is held in 4 storage tanks and reservoirs and pushed uphill by 3 pump facilities; that storage is the buffer that keeps taps running for a few hours after a pump or main fails.

What this means in an outage. Surface water needs a treatment plant running around the clock, so a plant shutdown, a raw-water pump failure or a long power cut at the plant can lower pressure across the whole service area, not just on one street. Boil water notices are more likely to be citywide after that kind of failure than after a single main break.

What causes water outages and low pressure in Burlington

Water outages are local, so the likely cause depends on weather, pipe age and the grid. For Burlington, these stand out.

• Freezing weather. Burlington sees about 154 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, and 81 days at or below 20°F. The coldest morning in the 2015 through 2025 record came on February 4, 2023. The longest stretch with highs that never rose above freezing ran 43 days, ending March 3, 2015. Frost pushes into shallow service lines first. Mains follow when the ground heaves and thaws, which is why break counts climb a day or two after the temperature swings.
• Older neighborhoods and pipe. 61.2% of occupied homes in Burlington were built before 1970, against 35.5% nationally. Streets of that age tend to sit on cast iron and early steel mains that are near or past their design life, which is where most breaks start.
• Flooding and heavy rain. NOAA logged 20 flood, flash flood and heavy rain reports in Chittenden County from 2015 through 2026, and 3 days a year bring an inch of rain or more. Floodwater can undercut pipe crossings, swamp pump stations and overload treatment plants, and a notice to boil water often follows when it enters the system.
• Storm-driven power loss. Thunderstorm wind, hail and tornado reports in Chittenden County number 109 since 2015. Pump stations and treatment plants that depend on Burlington Electric Department run on the electric grid, so a storm that downs power lines can lower water pressure even when no pipe is damaged.
• Digging and utility work. Street projects, fiber installation and excavation near buried pipe regularly cut mains in Burlington with no warning, usually on a day with perfectly ordinary weather.
• Planned shutoffs and a problem at one address. Valve replacements and new connections are announced ahead, often with door hangers. If neighbors have water, check your own shutoff valve, meter and pressure regulator before calling.

How weather strains the Burlington water system

Main break season in Burlington runs from late fall into early spring, with the coldest stretch around December through February.

A note on the numbers: they are modeled for the city center and averaged over eleven years, so they show how often Burlington sees each kind of weather, not what any one thermometer read on a given day.

Is Burlington water safe? Boil notices and EPA record

Since 2015, EPA's record for Burlington Department Public Works Water Div shows no health-based violations. It also lists 2 monitoring or reporting entries that are about paperwork rather than water quality, such as a missed sample or a late report.

Most recent entries, all monitoring or reporting:

• April 2020: A missed or late disinfection byproduct monitoring sample It is marked resolved.
• April 2020: A missed or late disinfection byproduct monitoring sample It is marked resolved.

When Burlington loses pressure after a break or a failed test, Burlington Department of Public Works – Water Resources asks affected customers to boil water for drinking and cooking. The notice ends only after samples come back clean, which usually takes one to two days after service returns, and the Vermont Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division supervises the process.

What the lead tests and housing age say about Burlington

The most recent 90th-percentile lead result filed for Burlington Department Public Works Water Div is 1.4 ppb (2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb, so that result is well under it.

61.2% of occupied homes in Burlington were built before 1970, and lead service lines and solder stayed legal until the federal ban in 1986. After any outage that disturbs the pipes, run the cold tap 30 seconds to 2 minutes before drinking, and ask Burlington Department of Public Works – Water Resources about its lead service line inventory.

How long a water outage lasts in Burlington

A crew that arrives at an ordinary main break in Burlington usually needs 4 to 8 hours to isolate the pipe, dig, repair, flush and restore pressure. Large transmission mains, deep pipes and breaks under busy streets can take a day or more.

Burlington Department of Public Works – Water Resources will post an estimated restoration time for a break that affects many customers; ask for the repair crew's estimate when you call.

Emergency water storage for Burlington households

The average household in Burlington has about 2.6 people, so FEMA's minimum of one gallon per person per day comes to roughly 8 gallons for three days and 36 gallons for two weeks.

• 58.5% of households rent. Tell your landlord or property manager about a leak or outage right away, since the shutoff valve may be theirs.
• Do not forget the water heater: the tank holds roughly 30 to 50 gallons you can drink after it is switched off and allowed to cool.
• Fill the bathtub and a few large pots as soon as you hear a break is likely; that water is for flushing and washing, not drinking.

Burlington versus neighboring water utilities

Water outage pages for nearby cities

Schenectady, NY · Manchester, NH · Nashua, NH · Lewiston, ME