Paynesville, MN
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (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. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
Who runs the water here
Paynesville serves about 2,575 people through 1,062 service connections, which makes it a small 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: MN1730018; phone on file: 3202433714. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Lead results over time
The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Paynesville is 0 ppb across 1 monitoring period, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
How Paynesville 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. Paynesville's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 44th percentile in Minnesota and the 32nd nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Stearns County
31 other systems share Stearns County; 12 of them have a higher latest lead result than Paynesville. 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) |
| Cold Spring | 4,201 | 3 ppb |
| Melrose | 3,886 | 0 (not detected) |
| Albany | 2,805 | 0 (not detected) |
| Saint John'S University | 2,500 | 2 ppb |
| Avon | 1,667 | 5 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Paynesville's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Paynesville 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. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.