More than 99% of Minnesota’s public water systems met all federal drinking water standards in 2025

News Release
May 14, 2026

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The Minnesota Drinking Water Annual Report for 2025, released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today, showed that more than 99% of Minnesota's public water systems met all federal health-based drinking water standards in 2025. Where violations occurred, consumers were notified and corrective actions were taken.

“Because of the hard work happening at the city, county and state levels, millions of Minnesotans across the state can turn on the tap and feel confident that their water is safe,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham.

The 2025 report documents progress made last year on key priorities, including how more than 6,500 community water suppliers throughout Minnesota are working to keep the state’s drinking water safe now and in the future.

Additional highlights of the 2025 report include:

• Reducing childhood lead exposure: In 2025, MDH expanded its work on lead in early care and education settings by, for example, providing guidance, free testing, remediation grants and an interactive Minnesota Lead in Drinking Water in Early Care and Education Facilities Map, which allows families to check results for the facilities their children attend. Additionally, Minnesota water systems continue working to replace all lead service lines and eliminate this exposure to lead from drinking water by 2033.
• Supporting systems with the greatest needs: MDH continued to prioritize providing planning, funding and technical support to water systems serving communities with the greatest infrastructure challenges and fewest resources. For example, the Source Water Protection Grants program helps public water systems undertake critical projects to safeguard their drinking water sources, particularly smaller and under-resourced systems.
• Expanding testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and emerging contaminants: MDH contracted engineers to collect more than 1,800 water samples at community and noncommunity water systems across the state to test for PFAS, helping systems prepare for the EPA’s enforceable PFAS limits, which take effect in 2029. Through the Clean Water Fund, the Public Health Laboratory has been able to expand its PFAS testing capabilities by 150% to support characterization of contamination in Minnesota. An interactive dashboard is available for residents to check PFAS levels in community drinking water. Additionally, the Drinking Water Ambient Monitoring Program, also supported by the Clean Water Fund, launched its second full round of annual sampling in 2025, providing ongoing monitoring capacity for priority and emerging contaminants like PFAS in drinking water sources statewide.
• Responding to climate change and cybersecurity risks: MDH continued supporting water systems in anticipating and responding to the growing risks to critical infrastructure posed by extreme weather events and cyber-attacks.

Keeping drinking water safe across the state would not be possible without the dedicated efforts of local partners.

Each year, MDH and the Minnesota Rural Water Association also recognize outstanding water systems with Dave Neiman Source Water Protection Awards for their proactive efforts to protect drinking water sources. The 2026 award recipients are the cities of Baxter and Kimball. Esko Public Schools and the cities of Buffalo, St. Peter, and Comstock were finalists for the award.

In addition to the statewide annual report, locally focused Consumer Confidence Reports that community water systems issue to their customers each year are available on MDH’s Drinking Water Protection website.

-MDH-

Media inquiries:
Amy Barrett
MDH Communications
651-201-4993
Amy.Barrett@state.mn.us