Center City, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). 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.
Center City at a glance
Center City serves about 305 people through 300 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Chisago County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1130001; phone on file: 6512575284. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Center City's lead record
Against the period ending 2021 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Center City is 2 ppb across 2 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 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. Center City's 1 ppb sits at the 57th percentile in Minnesota and the 52nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
17 other systems share Chisago County; 5 of them have a higher latest lead result than Center City. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| North Branch | 6,863 | 3 ppb |
| Lindstrom | 4,938 | 2 ppb |
| Wyoming | 3,990 | 2 ppb |
| Chisago City | 3,745 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rush City | 3,339 | 3 ppb |
| Stacy | 1,593 | 0 (not detected) |
| Shafer | 1,165 | 0 (not detected) |
| Taylors Falls | 1,067 | 4 ppb |
| Harris | 400 | 0 (not detected) |
| Preserve At Birch Lake | 388 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Center City, MN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Center City, 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 Center City whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
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. Why sampled homes are the worst-case ones is in the guide to reading the number. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.