Sandstone, MN
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2024-2024). 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.
Sandstone at a glance
Sandstone serves about 1,425 people through 474 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 Pine County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1580010; phone on file: 3202455241. 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 2023 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sandstone is 1 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2022 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2021 | 1 ppb |
How Sandstone 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. Sandstone's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 40th percentile in Minnesota and the 29th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in Pine County
13 other systems share Pine County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sandstone. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Pine City | 3,458 | 0 (not detected) |
| Hinckley | 1,964 | 0 (not detected) |
| Federal Correctional Institution | 1,587 | 0 (not detected) |
| Willow River | 410 | 11 ppb |
| Sturgeon Lake | 406 | 3 ppb |
| Askov | 364 | 0 (not detected) |
| Finlayson | 315 | 0 (not detected) |
| Mn Correctional Facility - Willow River | 240 | 2 ppb |
| Cross Lake Housing Development | 150 | 0 (not detected) |
| Brook Park | 133 | 0 (not detected) |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in Sandstone'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 Sandstone whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1900 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. A zero today does not rule out a jump later - the rules are tightening in 2027.