Cold Spring, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 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.
Cold Spring at a glance
Cold Spring serves about 4,201 people through 1,684 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Stearns County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1730006; phone on file: 3206853653. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2020 (2 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Cold Spring is 9 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 3 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2017 | 9 ppb |
How Cold Spring 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. Cold Spring's 3 ppb sits at the 85th percentile in Minnesota and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Stearns County
31 other systems share Stearns County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Cold Spring. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Cloud | 71,321 | 3 ppb |
| Sartell | 20,300 | 2 ppb |
| Waite Park | 8,354 | 0 (not detected) |
| Saint Joseph | 7,100 | 5 ppb |
| Sauk Centre | 4,657 | 0 (not detected) |
| Melrose | 3,886 | 0 (not detected) |
| Albany | 2,805 | 0 (not detected) |
| Paynesville | 2,575 | 0 (not detected) |
| Saint John'S University | 2,500 | 2 ppb |
| Avon | 1,667 | 5 ppb |
Next steps for Cold Spring, MN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Cold Spring, 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 Cold Spring 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. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.