Chester Heights, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 5 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). 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.
Chester Heights at a glance
Chester Heights serves about 300 people through 102 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Olmsted County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1550020; phone on file: 5072734608. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Chester Heights's lead record
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Chester Heights is 5 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 ppb |
How Chester Heights compares
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. Chester Heights's 5 ppb sits at the 90th percentile in Minnesota and the 91st nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
16 other systems share Olmsted County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Chester Heights. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Rochester | 123,624 | 7 ppb |
| Stewartville | 6,850 | 3 ppb |
| Byron | 6,809 | 2 ppb |
| Eyota | 2,043 | 2 ppb |
| Oronoco | 2,040 | 2 ppb |
| Dover | 895 | 5 ppb |
| Zumbro Ridge Estates | 270 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hallmark Terrace Mobile Home Park | 170 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sandy Slopes Community | 158 | 0 (not detected) |
| Meadowbrook Addition | 125 | 2 ppb |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Rochester, 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 Chester Heights 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.