Burlington Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Burlington, Vermont, the Chittenden County seat — Vermont's largest city and a major New England higher education and tech hub (University of Vermont — UVM, established 1791; Champlain College; Saint Michael's College), home of Lake Champlain waterfront, the Church Street Marketplace, and Vermont's largest city cultural and commercial core, birthplace of Senator Bernie Sanders (US Senator and twice-presidential candidate), and one of New England's most progressive and environmentally conscious cities — draws its municipal water supply from Lake Champlain via the City of Burlington Department of Public Works. Water hardness in Burlington measures 85 mg/L — classified as moderately soft.

Burlington's moderate softness — harder than Lake Champlain's raw supply — reflects the Champlain Valley basin's calcareous geology moderated by Burlington's treatment. Lake Champlain receives inflows from: the Green Mountains (Precambrian–Ordovician calcareous-poor schist and gneiss — the Vermont Green Mountain core, calcareous-poor crystalline terrain); the Champlain Valley lowlands (Ordovician calcareous-moderate limestone and the Cambrian Dunham Dolomite — the western Vermont Champlain Valley carbonate terrain); and Adirondack watersheds (calcareous-moderate). The City of Burlington's treatment plant modifies the Lake Champlain supply, producing the moderate 85 mg/L.

With hardness at 85 mg/L, Burlington residents enjoy moderately soft water. City of Burlington Department of Public Works consistently delivers water meeting all Vermont DEC and EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.