Faribault, MN
Above the federal action level
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 19 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. In the most recent monitoring period, more than 10% of the sampled homes measured above 15 ppb. Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead for drinking and cooking now, and test your own tap.
About Faribault
Faribault serves about 23,718 people through 7,453 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 Rice County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1660002; phone on file: 5073342222. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Every lead result on file
That is up 14 ppb from 5 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Faribault is 19 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 19 ppb over 15 |
| 2023 | 5 ppb |
| 2020 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 7 ppb |
Where this result ranks
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. Faribault's 19 ppb sits at the 100th percentile in Minnesota and the 99th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Rice County
13 other systems share Rice County; 0 of them have a higher latest lead result than Faribault. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Northfield | 20,790 | 3 ppb |
| Lonsdale | 5,079 | 1 ppb |
| Carleton College | 2,485 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mn Correctional Facility - Faribault | 2,103 | 0 (not detected) |
| Dundas | 1,490 | 3 ppb |
| Morristown | 987 | 3 ppb |
| Nerstrand | 299 | 0 (not detected) |
| Webster | 190 | 0 (not detected) |
| Rolling Green First Addition | 110 | 1 ppb |
| Millstone Creek Mobile Home Park | 90 | 1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Use a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead on the tap you drink and cook from, now, before you test. Then test your own tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Faribault 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. The action level is dropping - the 10 ppb rule from 2027.