Detroit Lakes, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 4 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). 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.
Detroit Lakes at a glance
Detroit Lakes serves about 10,038 people through 4,103 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 Becker County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1030005; phone on file: 2188467102. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is up 4 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2022. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Detroit Lakes is 4 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 ppb |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 1 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. Detroit Lakes's 4 ppb sits at the 89th percentile in Minnesota and the 88th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Becker County
8 other systems share Becker County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Detroit Lakes. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Frazee | 1,400 | 3 ppb |
| Lake Park | 714 | 0 (not detected) |
| Audubon | 570 | 3 ppb |
| Callaway | 234 | 0 (not detected) |
| Ogema | 204 | 0 (not detected) |
| Twin Haven Estates | 200 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oak Grove Mobile Home Park | 60 | 1 ppb |
| Brandy Lake Estates | 40 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Detroit Lakes, 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 Detroit Lakes 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.