Well water in St. Paul, Minnesota
In St. Paul, none of 45 tested well samples exceeded the EPA limit for lead, based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.
The strongest signal is PFOA: 18% of 17 local samples were above the limit, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.
493 test results across 11 contaminants from at least 15 wells, 1960 to 2025; chloride has the most at 96. 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 St. Paul. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PFOA 2007 to 2025 | 17 | 41% | 0 | 18.5 | 4 ng/L EPA limit | |
| Lead 1972 to 2025 | 45 | 7% | 0 | 1.9 | 15 ug/L EPA limit | |
| Copper 1972 to 2025 | 45 | 11% | 0 | 0.042 | 1.3 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Arsenic 1974 to 2025 | 44 | 20% | 0 | 3.78 | 10 ug/L EPA limit | |
| Fluoride 1960 to 2025 | 28 | 46% | 0 | 0.63 | 4 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Nitrate 1960 to 2007 | 19 | 100% | 0.03 | 4 | 10 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Chloride 1960 to 2025 | no limit | 96 | 100% | 123 | 2,100 | 250 mg/L nuisance level |
| Iron 1960 to 2025 | no limit | 72 | 85% | 1,240 | 24,800 | 300 ug/L nuisance level |
| Sodium 1960 to 2025 | no limit | 60 | 100% | 42 | 195 | 20 mg/L health guideline |
| Manganese 1960 to 2025 | no limit | 58 | 81% | 181 | 1,420 | 300 ug/L health guideline |
Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: PFOS (9).
Over time
Share of samples above the limit by period. A cell needs ten samples to show; a comparison needs twenty in each period. Later periods sample fewer wells, and often the ones already known to have a problem.
| Contaminant | before 2000 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | n/a | n/a | 0%18 samples | 0%24 samples |
| Copper | n/a | n/a | 0%18 samples | 0%24 samples |
| Arsenic | n/a | n/a | 0%18 samples | 0%24 samples |
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 addressWhat this means
The contaminants most often above their limit here are pfoa (18% of 17 samples). A well next door can differ sharply from yours because bedrock fractures, well depth and plumbing all matter, so these rates describe the area, not your tap.
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 St. Paul
- 1PFOA18% of 17 local samples were above the limit.
- 2Coliform bacteriaRecommended for every private well, every year.
- 3NitrateRecommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
- 4ChlorideDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 5IronDetected in 85% of local samples.
- 6ManganeseDetected in 81% of local samples.
- 7Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)892 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
- 8Metals panel43 hazardous waste sites on record locally.
Test your St. Paul well for PFOA, coliform bacteria and nitrate
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 $209Already 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 St. Paul numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.
Wells in St. Paul
190 domestic wells in St. Paul are on record with the state since 1931. 96% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 228 feet deep (one in ten goes past 309 feet).
In a typical St. Paul well, bedrock starts about 50 feet down.
Bedrock wells are where arsenic, uranium and radon come from: the water sits in fractures in granite and metamorphic rock and picks up whatever the rock carries. That is why testing for those three matters more here than in a dug or gravel well.
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 St. Paul
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 St. Paul
MPCA records 892 leaking underground storage tank sites and 43 hazardous waste sites in St. Paul, among 2,262 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.
- 892
- leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
- 43
- hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
- 621
- registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
- 87
- lined landfills and transfer facilities
- 619
- other remediation projects
Treatment that fits the local profile
PFOA
Granular activated carbon whole-house; Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange
Chloride
Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation
Iron
Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration
Manganese
Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis
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 PFOA
Under-sink reverse osmosis system
under-sink or countertop, about $300
Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.
For PFOA
Whole-house PFAS carbon system
whole-house, at the point of entry, about $3,000
Granular activated carbon certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for PFOA and PFOS; replace media on schedule.
For PFOA
Aquasana SmartFlow reverse osmosis
under-sink or countertop, about $225
Certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 53 to reduce arsenic (96%, pentavalent), fluoride (90%), lead (99%), nitrate, nitrite and PFOA/PFOS at the kitchen tap, with a remineralizer.
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.
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Common questions
How deep are wells in St. Paul?
The typical domestic well in St. Paul is 228 feet deep, based on 190 wells reported to the state since 1931. One in ten is deeper than 309 feet. 96% are drilled into bedrock.
Is there arsenic in well water in St. Paul?
Arsenic was detected in 20% of 44 public well samples in St. Paul, and 0% were above the EPA limit of 10 ug/L. Arsenic has no taste or smell; a lab test is the only way to know your level.
How often should I test a private well in St. Paul?
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 St. Paul
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: 493 samples in St. Paul. 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: 1,816 well records in St. Paul, 190 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: 2,262 regulated sites located in St. Paul. 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.