Well water in Fridley, Minnesota

In Fridley, none of 73 tested well samples exceeded the EPA limit for nitrate, based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

The strongest signal is coliform bacteria: Recommended for every private well, every year, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.

432 test results across 6 contaminants from at least 43 wells, 1987 to 2020; chloride has the most at 76. Data refreshed September 3, 2026.

Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Fridley. Above limit means above the EPA maximum contaminant level; where EPA has no enforceable limit, the row shows a health guideline or nuisance level instead.

Contaminant	Above limit	Samples	Detected	Median	Highest	Limit
Nitrate 1987 to 2007	0%	73	29%	0	9.2	10 mg/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1987 to 1990	0%	70	99%	0.1	0.6	4 mg/L EPA limit
Chloride 1987 to 2020	no limit	76	100%	17	170	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1987 to 2007	no limit	73	96%	48	16,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1987 to 1990	no limit	70	100%	8.8	110	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1987 to 1990	no limit	70	100%	250	5,300	300 ug/L health guideline

Closer than the town

See the sampled wells near your address

The same records, drawn around one point: which wells within a few miles were sampled and what they found, how deep the wells next to you were drilled, and any leaking tank or cleanup site within a mile.

Check my address

What this means

Among contaminants with a federal limit, no tested sample in Fridley came back above it. That is reassuring, but sampling is uneven: wells that were never tested are not in this data.

Chloride, Iron, and Manganese are widespread in local groundwater. They are mainly a staining and taste problem, but high manganese also carries a health advisory for infants.

What to test for in Fridley

1
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
2
Nitrate
Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
3
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
4
Manganese
Detected in 100% of local samples.
5
Fluoride
Detected in 99% of local samples.
6
Iron
Detected in 96% of local samples.
7
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
102 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
8
Metals panel
7 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Fridley well for coliform bacteria, nitrate and chloride

Certified lab analysis of your own tap water, bottles and prepaid return shipping included. The Essential well panel covers arsenic, uranium, nitrate, lead, copper, manganese, iron, sodium and bacteria; radon and PFAS are add-ons.

Order the Tap Score well water test kit, from $209 Already tested? Upload the report

Just want bacteria checked first? Tap Score coliform and E. coli test, $99. Coliform and E. coli are the tests every well needs every year.

Want a quick look before paying for a lab? Home well water test strips on Amazon check hardness, iron, pH and nitrate in minutes. They are a screen, not a result: arsenic, bacteria, uranium and PFAS need a certified lab.

Affiliate links: the merchant pays us a commission and the price is the same for you. It does not change what the data above says. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Where to get a well tested in Minnesota: certified labs, state programs and prices.

Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the Fridley numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

Wells in Fridley

28 domestic wells in Fridley are on record with the state since 1946. 48% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 124 feet deep (one in ten goes past 231 feet).

In a typical Fridley well, bedrock starts about 153 feet down.

1940s

1950s

1960s

Find your own well's report

The state keeps the driller's report for most wells drilled since 1984. It tells you how deep your well is, where bedrock starts, and how much water it makes, which decides what treatment can work.

Open Minnesota Well Index and choose Water Well.
The record shows depth, casing, depth to bedrock, aquifer, static water level and the driller; new wells since 2008 also show the arsenic test result.

Wells drilled since 1974 have records; older wells appear only if a later owner reported them.

The rock under Fridley

Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system

Sandstone. Sandstone wells draw from pore space in the rock and tend to be dependable. Iron, manganese and hardness are common, and some sandstones carry arsenic or radium, so a first test should include both.

Classification from the USGS Principal Aquifers of the United States (national map, 2003 edition, GIS release 2015), read at the town centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

Official help in Minnesota

Two places to start that are not selling anything: the state program that answers private well questions, and its list of labs certified to run drinking water tests. A certified lab is the difference between a result you can act on and a number.

Wells and Borings, Minnesota Department of Health
Accredited Laboratories as Well Partners, Minnesota Department of Health

Contamination sources on record in Fridley

MPCA records 102 leaking underground storage tank sites and 7 hazardous waste sites in Fridley, among 233 regulated sites in total. Groundwater does not follow property lines, so a well within a few hundred feet of one of these is worth testing for what that site could release.

102: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
7: hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
82: registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
3: lined landfills and transfer facilities
39: other remediation projects

Treatment that fits the local profile

Manganese

Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis

Iron

Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration

Systems we would look at first

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, the merchant pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change which products we list or what the data says.

For iron

Iron and manganese oxidizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,800

Air-injection or greensand media; fixes staining at the source.

Free, no obligation

Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Fridley

No water treatment company serves Fridley through Well Water Nerd yet. We are signing licensed companies on county by county: they test at your tap for free, walk you through the numbers, and quote treatment only if something needs fixing. Leave your details and you are first in line. Nothing is shared until a company joins for Fridley, and you get an email naming it first.

Common questions

How deep are wells in Fridley?

The typical domestic well in Fridley is 124 feet deep, based on 28 wells reported to the state since 1946. One in ten is deeper than 231 feet. 48% are drilled into bedrock.

How often should I test a private well in Fridley?

Test for bacteria and nitrate every year. Test once for arsenic, uranium, radon, fluoride, manganese and PFAS, then again every three to five years or after any change in taste, color, or plumbing.

Towns near Fridley

Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next town over is a fair second opinion.

Want the numbers themselves? Download the Minnesota dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 432 samples in Fridley. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
Minnesota Well Index: 523 well records in Fridley, 28 domestic. Well construction records from the Minnesota Well Index (Minnesota Department of Health), non-public-supply wells. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 15, 2026.
MPCA regulated sites: 233 regulated sites located in Fridley. Tank, leak, remediation, Superfund and landfill sites from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency What's In My Neighborhood database. Retrieved September 15, 2026.

Non-detects count as samples and are treated as zero when computing medians. Exactly at the limit counts as not above it. A sample belongs to the town containing the well's reported coordinates.