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Environmental Health Division
Response to EPA Nitrate Letter for Southeast Minnesota
On November 3, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), and Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) develop a coordinated and comprehensive work plan to reduce nitrate contamination of drinking water in eight southeastern Minnesota counties.
The eight counties included are Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, and Winona.
- Minnesota’s Workplan: Addressing Nitrate in Southeast Minnesota (PDF)
- Response to EPA’s request 01/12/24 (PDF)
- Response to EPA's request 12/01/23 (PDF)
- EPA's request: EPA Southeast Minnesota Groundwater
On this page:
Bottled water for eligible households
Reverse osmosis treatment for eligible households
Well test kits for eligible households
Status of work on EPA's request
Minnesota's work plan
Commonly asked questions
Resources
Contact information
Bottled water available for private well households with a baby or pregnant person
The MDH is able to provide limited bottled water to private well households that meet all of the following:
- Rely on a private well as their primary drinking water source.
- The private well is in Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, or Winona county.
- The private well water has been tested at an accredited laboratory on or after January 1, 2019 and the test result showed a nitrate concentration at or above 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L).
- There is a pregnant person or baby under 1 year of age in the home.
Bottled water is intended to be a short-term solution until a longer-term solution is available.
To determine if your household is eligible, complete the form below.
Request Bottled Water
Point of use reverse osmosis treatment for eligible households
The MDA has a formal workplan and agreement in place with local partners for this pilot program.
- The MDA has identified eligible households through their private well testing programs and will be sending out invitation letters in May 2024.
- A limited number of initial reverse osmosis treatment systems should be available through the local partner starting in summer 2024.
Well test kits available for private well households with a baby or pregnant person
The MDH is able to provide limited well test kits for private well households that meet all of the following:
- Rely on a private well as their drinking water source.
- The private well is in Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, or Winona counties.
- There is a pregnant person or baby under 1 year of age in the home.
- The private well has NOT been tested for nitrate since 2019.
To determine if your household is eligible, complete the form below.
Status of work on the EPA’s request
As of May 2024, the State is collaborating with local partners to:
Encourage people to test their private wells. This includes providing well testing messages through partners and paid social media.
Provide limited alternate water. We are prioritizing private well households with a nitrate concentration of 10 mg/L or higher and a pregnant person or baby under 1 year old in the home. There are two forms of alternate water at this point:
- Point of use reverse osmosis treatment systems for eligible households through a pilot program with the MDA and local partners.
- Bottled water through the MDH.
Provide limited free well testing for coliform bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, lead, and manganese for private well households that have not tested for nitrate since 2019 and have a baby under 1 year old or pregnant person in the home.
Plan community meetings about the public health intervention components of the work plan. These meetings will likely be in May and June. Stay tuned.
Identify sources of funding and methods for well inventory, well testing, the provision of alternate water, and mitigation strategies. Agencies submitted proposals to the legislature. The legislature will make a decision before they adjourn at the end of May.
Form a Southeast Minnesota Nitrate Strategies Collaborative Work Group to help address nitrate. The workgroup will consist of residents from Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, and Winona counties.
The Work Group will:
- Build a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities of addressing nitrate pollution in southeastern Minnesota.
- Deliberate and build consensus on ways to strengthen the long-term nitrate reduction strategies.
- Develop recommendations for improving, prioritizing, and implementing strategies, including strengthening communication and engagement activities, policy or funding proposals, or collaborative strategies to accelerate prevention and mitigation activities.
- Learn more at Addressing nitrate in southeastern Minnesota.
Completed work includes:
- Expanding the Reducing nutrients in waters page on the MPCA website to include the story of the nutrient reduction strategy revisions, the work being done by other Minnesota agencies, and links to the stories of the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Superior, and the Red River Basin.
- The MPCA developed a wastewater nitrogen reduction and implementation strategy with the goals of meeting the nutrient reduction strategy’s goals and providing protections for aquatic life. Learn more at Nitrogen in wastewater.
Minnesota’s work plan to address nitrate in southeast Minnesota
The agencies have developed a workplan cited in the EPA letter, which includes the following three phases:
1. Immediate Response (January 2024 – June 2024)
- Conduct education and outreach encouraging well testing
- Provide limited alternate water for vulnerable populations
- Provide limited well testing for vulnerable populations
2. Public Health Intervention (July 2024 – Ongoing)
- Identify impacted residences
- Conduct education and outreach
- Test private well drinking water
- Provide mitigation
- Provide public record of work
3. Long-Term Nitrate Strategies (Snapshot of key initiatives)
- Taskforce to address nitrate
- Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Plan and Groundwater Protection Rule
- Feedlot permits and rules
- Revising Minnesota Nutrient Reduction Strategy
- Fish kill prevention
- Wastewater nitrogen reduction and karst protection strategies
We will provide more updates as these activities develop.
Now is a good time to check your drinking water quality
Nitrate in groundwater is an issue that has been developing in southeastern Minnesota for several decades. There are regulations in place to help protect groundwater, but it will likely take years of work to fully mitigate the issue. Checking your water quality now is a good way to confirm if your water is safe to drink.
If you’d like more information about nitrate in the environment or nitrate and health, please visit the webpage below.
If you are on a public water system, your system ensures that drinking water meets the EPA standard
Your public water system regularly tests for nitrate and ensures levels meet the EPA standard. Your public water system will let you know if they detect nitrate in drinking water at a level above the EPA standard. You can find the level of nitrate detected in the system serving where you live by reading the system’s Water Quality Report, also known as a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
Search for your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) online at the link below or contact your public water system to get a paper copy. If you want to find the level of nitrate for a place besides your home, contact the water system serving that location.
If you have a private well, test for nitrate every year
If you get your drinking water from a private well, MDH recommends that you test the water you use for drinking and cooking for nitrate every year at an accredited water testing laboratory. We also recommend testing for coliform bacteria every year and testing for arsenic, lead, and manganese at least once. You cannot taste, see, or smell these contaminants in your water; testing is the only way to know the level in your water.
Test for nitrate every year. You should also have your water tested for nitrate if you are planning on becoming pregnant or if infants will be using the water.
You are responsible for keeping your well water safe and testing it as needed. MDH recommends you use an accredited laboratory to test your water.
If you have not tested for nitrate since 2019 and you have a pregnant person or baby under 1 year in the home, you may be eligible for a free well test if you live in Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, or Winona county.
- Complete this form to see if your household may qualify for a free well test kit: Request a Private Well Test Kit.
If you are not eligible for a free well test kit, contact an accredited laboratory to get sample containers and instructions, or ask your county environmental or public health services if they provide well testing services.
Accredited labs in southeastern Minnesota that test for nitrate are (alphabetical order):
- Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc.
Address: 1126 North Front Street, New Ulm, MN 56073
Phone: 507-354-8517
- RMB Environmental Laboratories, Inc
Address: 501 Highway 13 East, Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone: 952-456-8470
Email: customerservice@rmbel.com
- Southeastern Minnesota Water Analysis Laboratory
Address: 2100 Campus Drive SE, Suite 100, Rochester, MN 55904
Phone: 507-328-7495
Order a water test kit at: Olmsted County Minnesota Water Analysis Lab
- UC Laboratory
Address: 129 North Main Street, Janesville, MN 56048
Phone: 507-234-5835
If nitrate is detected in your private well at concentrations above 10 mg/L, follow these steps
- Get your drinking water from a safe alternative source, such as bottled water.
- Make sure babies under six months old do not drink the well water.
- Do not try to boil nitrate out of the water. Boiling will make nitrate more concentrated.
- Have a licensed well contractor inspect your well.
- Find and get rid of any potential sources of nitrate contamination. Visit the webpages below to help you identify sources to check or to contact a licensed well contractor.
Home water treatment is also an option. Even with home water treatment, MDH recommends that no babies under six months old drink the water, a safety precaution in the event the water treatment fails. Before treating for nitrate, MDH encourages you to first try to get rid of potential sources of nitrate on your property and get your well inspected and repaired.
Commonly asked questions
Can I get a free test for my well water?
Currently, MDH is providing a small number of free well test kits for private well households that meet all the following:
- Rely on a private well as their drinking water source.
- The private well is in Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, or Winona counties.
- There is a pregnant person or baby under 1 year of age in the home.
- The private well has NOT been tested for nitrate since 2019.
To determine if your household is eligible, complete this form: Request a Private Well Test Kit.
We hope to have free well testing available more broadly in the near future. In the meantime, MDH encourages you to work with an accredited lab to get your water tested.
You can also participate in a well screening clinic hosted by a local agency or group. While screening results are not 100% accurate, they can be a first step knowing if nitrate is in your well water. If nitrate is detected with a screening test, we encourage you to follow up with an accredited lab.
Can I get a treatment system installed for free or a new well paid for?
MDA is notifying households via mail if they may be eligible for reverse osmosis due to known elevated nitrate in their well water and participation in previous MDA private well testing programs.
If you are a private well household in southeast Minnesota that has elevated nitrate and a pregnant person or baby in the home, you may be eligible for bottled water until a longer-term solution is available.
- Learn more in the Bottled water available for private well households with a baby or pregnant person section.
Otherwise, at this point, there is not general funding for nitrate treatment, well repair, or new well construction. However, there may be programs available for cost share of treatment systems or well repairs at the local government level. You can check if you may be eligible for any grants or loans for home water treatment, well construction, or repair. Visit the link below for more information.
As programs become available MDH will do outreach to our local partners and the public.
As a private well owner, do I have to test and treat my water?
There are no statewide regulations for private well owners to test and treat their water after a well is constructed. All actions are voluntary. However, MDH encourages you to test your drinking water on a regular basis.
Resources
If your well was constructed after 1974, you may be able to find information about your well through the Minnesota Well Index at the link below.
Contact Information
For more information about your water quality, please email health.privatewells@state.mn.us.