Brainerd, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Who runs the water here
Brainerd serves about 14,670 people through 5,149 service connections, which makes it a large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1180002; phone on file: 2188253237. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
That is up 2 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Brainerd is 5 ppb across 15 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 ppb |
| 2025 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 3 ppb |
| 2022 | 3 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 3 ppb |
| 2019 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 3 ppb |
| 2016 | 3 ppb |
Against other Minnesota systems
Of the 966 Minnesota systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 7 are over 15 ppb right now and 48 have gone over at some point. Brainerd's 2 ppb sits at the 76th percentile in Minnesota and the 73rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
22 other systems share Crow Wing County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Brainerd. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Baxter | 9,341 | 0 (not detected) |
| Crosby | 2,377 | 0 (not detected) |
| Pequot Lakes | 1,200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ironton | 578 | 0 (not detected) |
| Deerwood | 530 | 5 ppb |
| Crow Wing Estates | 180 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cuyuna | 175 | 0 (not detected) |
| Riverton | 126 | 0 (not detected) |
| Knieff'S Shore Acres | 100 | 1 ppb |
| Whitefish Senior Living Llc | 100 | 3 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Brainerd, MN may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Brainerd whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1630 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.