Colchester buys Champlain Water District water at 60 mg/L, soft enough that the glass work here is the New England pollen wave and snow and ice damage.
Colchester buys soft Champlain Water District water, 60 mg/L, delivered to most of the town through Fire District #3, so the tap is not the concern. Malletts Bay is: the town holds a large stock of seasonal, lake-facing glazing, and those elevations weather faster and need visiting more often than the inland walls. June, August and September are the months that suit exterior work, and a single-story exterior runs $240 to $400.
The district gives its water as 3.6 grains per gallon, about 60 mg/L, meaning mineral is a minor factor next to the spray film off Malletts Bay.
| Hardness | 60 mg/L as CaCO₃ 3.6 grains per gallon, in the district's own units, as published by Champlain Water District. |
|---|---|
| pH | 7.64 (range 7.48–7.85) |
| Manganese | 0.005 mg/L (range 0.002–0.008) |
| Chloride | 19 mg/L (range 18–21) |
| Disinfectant | chloramine |
| Source and treatment | Shelburne Bay on Lake Champlain, drawn from a deep-water intake offshore; the district states the bay holds 33 billion gallons, and runs a watershed management programme for source protection · Filtration and primary disinfection at the Peter L. Jacob Water Treatment Facility, using free chlorine for inactivation, with corrosion control and disinfection by-product control maintained across the countywide service area. The facility has held Excellence in Water Treatment status for 26 years. · No softening step. |
Not in the report: alkalinity, corrosion index, iron, sodium and total dissolved solids.
SOURCE · Champlain Water District 2025 Annual Water Quality Report, Peter L. Jacob facility (champlainwater.org), with the EPA SDWIS federal treatment record, PWS VT0005092 · How we source these numbers
Colchester's two real windows are the seasonal opening-up in late spring and closing-up in autumn.
VERMONT SEASON BY SEASON →Colchester buys its water from the county district rather than producing any, and it reaches most of the town through Colchester Fire District #3. The distinguishing condition here is the lake itself: Malletts Bay puts a large stock of seasonal, water-facing glazing in one town, and water-facing glass fails differently from inland glass.
The water is Champlain Water District's Shelburne Bay supply, delivered locally through Colchester Fire District #3 rather than a town water department. The billing entity and the treatment entity are different organisations, which is worth knowing before chasing a commercial account's water access.
Malletts Bay is the operational fact of this town. Camps and year-round houses sit directly on the water with their main glazing facing it, and that glass carries a mineral and organic film off wind-driven spray that inland Colchester glass simply does not get.
Lakefront exposure also means the worst elevation is the one the owner cares about most. West-facing bay glass takes afternoon sun, dries fastest, and shows every streak, so it gets worked first in the morning rather than last.
A large share of the bay stock is seasonal, which inverts the usual calendar: opening-up work in late spring and closing-up work in autumn are two distinct demand spikes, and the houses are often empty in between.
Saint Michael's College sits in the town and brings institutional multi-storey glazing with an academic-year schedule attached, which is a different book entirely from the seasonal lakefront work.
Older camp construction is the awkward part: single-glazed sash, wooden frames swollen by decades of lake humidity, and fixed units that were never designed to be cleaned from outside without a ladder on soft ground.
The lake moderates temperature but adds humidity, so dry-down is slower here than a few miles inland. Panes that would flash dry in Essex stay wet long enough to run, which changes squeegee pace more than technique.
Winter work is effectively limited to interiors, and the seasonal properties are shut, so the December-to-February book depends entirely on the college and the town's commercial strip.
Bay exposure sets the price in Colchester: water-facing elevations need more frequency than the same house's inland side.
Lake-swollen camp sash and fixed bay-facing units over soft ground are where amateur ladder work goes wrong here.
OPEN COST ESTIMATOR →Nearest EPA particle monitor: 28 km
Colchester's stormwater ordinance bars anyone from discharging into the town's storm system any water that carries pollutants or is anything other than stormwater, and it outlaws illicit connections old and new; the exempt list covers only noncommercial vehicle washing and water with no pollutants in it, which leaves a paid crew's detergent rinse on the prohibited side.
Colchester Code of Ordinances Ch. 18 §18-14: prohibitions (illegal discharges) · Colchester Code of Ordinances Ch. 18 §18-15: exemptions · checked September 2026
Colchester's Historic Preservation District overlays its part of the Fort Ethan Allen National Register district, where changes to historic structures should follow the Secretary of the Interior's standards. Projects that go before the Development Review Board there are judged on exterior design and facade openings such as windows, and deteriorated features should be repaired rather than replaced.
Colchester Development Regulations §7.05: Historic Preservation District (HPD) · checked September 2026
Late-winter and early-spring ice-melt residue carries chloride-residue, mineral residue, and organic residue composite. Ice-dam meltwater residue from roof-edge ice damming produces a distinctive composite residue on upper-pane and sash-perimeter glass. Percarbonate-citric ladder protocol required on the worst-affected stock. Same handling pattern Linnea Jorgensen documents for Minnesota.
The district gives its water as 3.6 grains per gallon, about 60 mg/L, meaning mineral is a minor factor next to the spray film off Malletts Bay.
Residential window cleaning in Colchester typically runs $8–13 per pane or $240–400 for a standard single-story exterior. Bay exposure sets the price in Colchester: water-facing elevations need more frequency than the same house's inland side.
Colchester's drier, frost-free months are June and August and September, by NOAA's 1991–2020 normals for the Burlington International Airport station, where July brings the most rain. The calendar on this page marks June (after the May 15 bloom and after smoke season). Frost nights usually run from October 15 to April 29.
Usually yes: Champlain Water District publishes hardness of 60 mg/L, low enough that tap-rinsed glass tends to dry clean. Iron, manganese, sodium and chloride all sit under this site's flags (highest: chloride up to 19 mg/L). It draws on Shelburne Bay on Lake Champlain, drawn from a deep-water intake offshore.
In Colchester the dominant residue patterns include new england pollen wave and snow and ice damage. Colchester's two real windows are the seasonal opening-up in late spring and closing-up in autumn.
Lake-swollen camp sash and fixed bay-facing units over soft ground are where amateur ladder work goes wrong here.
Just over the Vermont line