The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
Water Quality and Supply

Protecting and improving the quality of Vermont’s surface and groundwaters remains a high priority for Vermonters. This critical resource provides habitats for fish and other aquatic life, a wide range of recreational opportunities and aesthetic pleasures, and an abundant supply of water for drinking and other domestic uses.

The way we Vermonters use the land and live our lives has profound effects upon the state’s water quality. Continued improvement of water quality in Vermont requires a focus not only upon how Vermont towns, businesses, and individuals collect and dispose of wastes from point sources, but also upon the cumulative impact on our ground and surface waters from many small but pervasive daily human activities.

PROGRESS MADE

In the late 1960s and early 70s, concern about health impacts from untreated sewage and industrial wastes prompted significant federal, state, and local government efforts to control these large, easily identifiable point sources of pollution. In 1970, 69% of all sewered Vermont municipalities discharged raw sewage into the state's waterways and only 11% provided secondary treatment of their wastes. In 1995, as the result of substantial state, federal and local investment in sewage treatment facilities over the past 25 years, these municipalities all provide at least secondary treatment (Fig. 1).

ANR efforts to treat and control the major point sources of surface water pollution have produced significant achievements in improving the quality of the state's lakes and rivers. The gross impacts of industrial discharges streams and rivers with "pretty colors" and clouds of silt and slurry - are no longer in evidence. Bacterial contamination from the discharge of raw sewage has been virtually eliminated. Widespread depletion of dissolved oxygen resulting from the discharge of organic wastes has disappeared.


SURFACE WATERS STILL FACE PROBLEMS

The substantial progress of the past 25 years has not eliminated water pollution. Approximately one out of every five miles of Vermont streams and rivers suffers from substandard water quality. An additional one in five miles is currently considered threatened (i.e. faces the imminent prospect of declining water quality).

Many of the current surface water quality problems facing Vermont are linked to the land use activities surrounding the state's waterways which contribute to nonpoint source pollution. Vermont's most significant current surface water quality problems are the destruction of aquatic habitat from erosion, siltation and alteration of stream flows, and the proliferation of non-native species. These adverse impacts to aquatic habitats are largely the result of the destruction or removal of streambank vegetation, land use activities surrounding streams, rivers and lakes (farming and forestry practices, land development), and the manipulation of streamflows for hydropower development.

A review of the condition of the biological communities within Vermont's streams found a correlation between the biological condition of a stream and the surrounding land use patterns. In watersheds where the dominant land use was urban or agricultural, the diversity and health of aquatic communities was either poor or fair at 65% of the urban sites and 72% of the agricultural sites respectively. In contrast, in primarily forested watersheds, the biological condition of the streams was found to be either good or excellent at 100% of the evaluated sites.

An example of the increased relative impact on water quality from human activities and nonpoint sources of water pollution is the history of phosphorus loading to St. Albans Bay of Lake Champlain. Excess phosphorus contributes to nutrient enrichment and algal blooms which adversely affect water quality. Current waste treatment practices have reduced point discharges of phosphorus by over 80% (Fig. 2). While point sources have been drastically reduced, nonpoint loadings have risen and now constitute the dominant source of phosphorus to St. Albans Bay. For all of Lake Champlain, nonpoint sources currently contribute 71% of the total phosphorus loading, much of which can be attributed to agricultural and urban land use practices in the watershed.


WATER SUPPLY AND GROUNDWATER PROTECTION

Vermonters use groundwater for both drinking water and waste disposal. It is estimated that over 60% of the state's population gets their drinking water from groundwater. Over 450 public community water systems and approximately 120,000 private wells use a groundwater source. There continues to be a steady increase in both the number of new wells drilled each year and the number of gallons of wastewater permitted to be discharged into the ground (Fig- 3)- The total amount of wastewater discharged is likely to be greater; it is estimated that 33% of all septic systems in Vermont are installed without any review. In addition, groundwater is threatened by 1500 hazardous waste sites, o active and abandoned landfills, 3,367 single-walled underground storage tanks, road salt applied to state and town roads, waste oil disposal, and the use of agricultural chemicals.

Contaminated groundwater not only can pose health risks to users, but also can result in significant costs to towns and individuals for replacing the water supply, cleaning up the groundwater, and from reduced property values. The cost of treating or replacing contaminated community water systems has ranged from the $110,000 spent in East Haven to over $1,430,000 in Williamstown. A typical leaking underground petroleum tank can cost $200,000 to $300,000 to clean up. The cost of cleanup for several hazardous waste sites in Vermont is over $20 million. To date, approximately 70 private wells have been replaced due to hazardous chemical contamination of groundwater at an average cost of over $2,000 per well. The Agency of Transportation has replaced an additional 70 wells due to road salt contamination. Twenty-one public water systems have either been threatened or impacted by leaking petroleum.


CHALLENGES

In Vermont, many current problems pose more subtle and insidious threats to water quality than the gross effects of 25 years ago. To effectively prevent and mitigate these impacts, the public must become more aware of human lifestyle impacts on water quality. Nonpoint source control will ultimately require greater awareness and behavior change by both individuals and large-scale land users. This could include:


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