Lonsdale, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2025-2025). 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.
About Lonsdale
Lonsdale serves about 5,079 people through 1,754 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 Rice County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1660006; phone on file: 5077442327. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2024 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Lonsdale is 2 ppb across 10 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2019 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 2 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. Lonsdale's 1 ppb sits at the 61st percentile in Minnesota and the 55th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
13 other systems share Rice County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Lonsdale. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Faribault | 23,718 | 19 ppb |
| Northfield | 20,790 | 3 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 |
Next steps for Lonsdale, MN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Lonsdale, 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 Lonsdale whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1400 ppb (copper action level 1,300 ppb).
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.