Sleepy Eye, MN
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3 ppb (monitoring period 2026-2026). 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.
Sleepy Eye at a glance
Sleepy Eye serves about 3,599 people through 1,467 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 Brown County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1080005; phone on file: 5077943731. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Sleepy Eye's lead record
That is up 2 ppb from 1 ppb in the period ending 2025. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Sleepy Eye is 7 ppb across 17 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 ppb |
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2025 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 3 ppb |
| 2024 | 5 ppb |
| 2023 | 2 ppb |
| 2023 | 6 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2021 | 2 ppb |
| 2020 | 4 ppb |
| 2020 | 2 ppb |
| 2019 | 2 ppb |
| 2018 | 7 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
| 2016 | 4 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. Sleepy Eye's 3 ppb sits at the 84th percentile in Minnesota and the 82nd nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
6 other systems share Brown County; 3 of them have a higher latest lead result than Sleepy Eye. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| New Ulm | 14,052 | 2 ppb |
| Springfield | 2,070 | 18 ppb |
| Comfrey | 402 | 3 ppb |
| Hanska | 393 | 0 (not detected) |
| Evan | 86 | 11 ppb |
| Cobden | 33 | 5 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Sleepy Eye, 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 Sleepy Eye whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do. Its latest copper 90th percentile is 1480 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.