Vernon Center, MN
Exceeded the action level in the past
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest result is under the action level, but this system has gone over 15 ppb before. Lead comes from pipes, not the source water, so a home with a lead service line can still be exposed. Test your own tap.
About Vernon Center
Vernon Center serves about 323 people through 160 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws groundwater, in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. EPA system ID: MN1070019; phone on file: 5075493240. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is down 2 ppb from 3 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Vernon Center is 16 ppb across 5 monitoring periods, 1 of them over the 15 ppb action level.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 ppb |
| 2021 | 3 ppb |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2018 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 16 ppb over 15 |
Against other Minnesota systems
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. Vernon Center's 1 ppb sits at the 57th percentile in Minnesota and the 53rd nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
16 other systems share Blue Earth County; 9 of them have a higher latest lead result than Vernon Center. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Mankato | 42,803 | 2 ppb |
| Eagle Lake | 3,268 | 1 ppb |
| Lake Crystal | 2,554 | 2 ppb |
| Mapleton | 1,756 | 2 ppb |
| Madison Lake | 1,017 | 0 (not detected) |
| Saint Clair | 846 | 6 ppb |
| Good Thunder | 583 | 2 ppb |
| Amboy | 535 | 6 ppb |
| South Bend Township | 325 | 1 ppb |
| Skyline | 289 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for Vernon Center, MN
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Vernon Center, 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 Vernon Center 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. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. More in what a past exceedance means today.