Minneapolis Water Quality Analysis
- 01 | Who Regulates Minneapolis Drinking Water?
- 02 | Minneapolis Annual Water Quality Report
- 03 | Environmental Working Group Water Quality Report
- 04 | Contaminants Threatening Minneapolis Water Quality
- 05 | Where Does Minneapolis Get Its Water?
- 06 | Treating Minneapolis Drinking Water
- 07 | Testing and Monitoring Minneapolis Water Quality
- 08 | Should Minneapolis Residents Use In-home Water Filters?
Minneapolis doesn’t mess around with water.
They can’t, because in a way the city is ground zero for the modern water pollution battle.
Just down the street, the companies 3M and Dupont created the notorious PFAS chemicals, which are now one of the world’s leading causes of toxic drinking water.
But that's just the beginning of the fight for Minneapolis water.
The city also faces challenges with their groundwater and water sourced from the Mississippi River.
Keep reading for the latest updates on Minneapolis water quality…
The Minneapolis Public Works is in charge of supplying over 57 million gallons of water a day to customers in the greater Minneapolis area.
They work with the Minnesota Department of Health to test drinking water for more than 100 contaminants.
It’s their job to make sure that Minneapolis water quality is in compliance with the maximum contaminant levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in accordance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
Every year the City of Minneapolis publishes an annual water quality report to give residents an update on the city’s water supply.
In their most recent report, they did not detect any contaminants above federal EPA levels.
With that said, not all agencies agree with the EPA’s current standards for what should be considered healthy to drink…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit watchdog group that compiles data from government agencies across the country.
The EWG has much higher standards for determining safe, healthy drinking water than the EPA.
In their most recent report on Minneapolis water quality, they gathered info from the Minnesota Department of Health as well as the EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database.
Although the EWG agrees that Minneapolis is not in violation of any federal safety standards, they found at least nine contaminants that exceeded EWG’s strict health guidelines:
- Bromodichloromethane: 39x
- Chloroform: 45x
- Chromium: 16x
- Dichloroacetic acid: 74x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5): 220x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9): 340x
- Nitrate: 2.7x
- Total trihalomethanes: 137x
- Trichloroacetic acid: 44x
Other contaminants detected at much lower levels included:
- Chromium
- Fluoride
- Manganese
- Molybdenum
- Monochloroacetic acid
- Strontium
- Vanadium
Next, let’s take a closer look at some of the most serious contaminants threatening Minneapolis water quality…
According to the Minneapolis Public Works, there are five main types of contaminants that threaten the area’s drinking water sources, including:
- Microbial contaminants like viruses, bacteria and parasites from sewage, septic systems and agricultural livestock operations.
- Inorganic contaminants like salts and metals that occur naturally in the rocks and soil, or from mining and farming operations and wastewater discharges.
- Pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture and residential properties.
- Organic chemical contaminants and volatile organic compounds from industrial processes, petroleum production, gas stations, and septic systems.
- Radioactive contaminants like radium, thorium and uranium that occur naturally underground and are released during mining operations and oil and gas production.
Here’s some of the top contamination concerns facing Minneapolis water quality today:
Chromium is a highly toxic metal that occurs naturally in rocks, plants and soil.
Chromium-6, or hexavalent chromium, is the most toxic form of the element.
The current EPA maximum contaminant limit for total chromium is 0.1 mg/L, but that number was set in 1991 when the only known health risk at the time was allergic skin reactions.
Today, studies show that chromium in drinking water may increase the risk of stomach cancers.
In the Environmental Working Group’s latest report, Minneapolis water tested 16x higher than their recommended health guidelines for chromium-6.
Disinfection byproducts, or DBPs, are a group of contaminants that form when chlorine mixes with organic matter in water.
In the EWG’s latest report, Minneapolis tested high levels for two common DBPs: haloacetic acid (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHMs).
Both were over 200x the EWG recommended health guidelines, although they were in compliance with federal regulations.
According to the Center for Disease Control, studies show that chronic exposure to DBPs may increase the risk of liver damage, decreased nervous system activity, and cancer.
The City of Minneapolis also disinfects their distribution pipes with chloramine, a common DBP made by mixing chlorine with ammonia.
If your tap water has ever smelt like a swimming pool, it’s probably thanks to chloramine.
Lead is a toxic heavy metal that regulatory agencies have zero tolerance for, including the EPA.
The metal is so toxic, in fact, that even small amounts can cause learning disabilities and lower IQ in children, as well as slowed growth, hearing problems and anemia.
Lead exposure can also cause reduced growth of the fetus and premature birth, along with decreased kidney function and high blood pressure.
The most common source of lead in drinking water is old service pipes and household plumbing.
Before 1986, it was common practice to use lead-containing components for plumbing.
Although lead concentrations in Minneapolis are relatively low compared to the rest of the country, roughly 10% of the city’s residential taps contain significant amounts of lead.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals that make products more resistant to heat and stains.
They are common in Teflon, non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, and stain-proof carpets.
The Minnesota-based companies Dupont and 3M created PFAS just decades ago.
From the 1950s to the early 2000s, 3M disposed of PFAS during the manufacturing process at four sites across Minnesota.
This directly contaminated the groundwater of over 170,000 residents.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because once they’re in the environment and the human body, they are almost impossible to remove.
Side effects of PFAS in drinking water include:
- Weakened immunity
- Poor liver function
- High cholesterol
- Lower birth rate
- High blood pressure
- Kidney cancer
Long-term exposure to PFAS in women can cause them to build up in the body, then pass them onto the fetus and breastfed babies.
Health officials recommend that pregnant women take steps to reduce exposure to PFAS.
Like many of the cities in the Midwest, the Twin Cities have high concentrations of chloride.
This is because chloride is used to de-ice the roads in the freezing winter months.
An estimated 365,000 tons of road salt is applied to roads in the Twin Cities every year.
When the ice melts, it washes down storm drains and carries chloride into local lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater.
Over 20% of the Twin Cities metro area’s shallow aquifers have chloride concentrations above the EPA’s guidelines.
The surface water of Minneapolis is prone to algae growths in the spring.
Algae blooms sprout from decaying aquatic plants when the temperatures start to warm up.
This can cause an earthy or musty odor that travels all the way to your tap, even after passing through the treatment plant.
Minneapolis residents usually report this smell at least once every spring.
Minneapolis gets its water from the Mississippi River as well as several local groundwater sources.
They pump about 21 billion gallons of water from the river each year, and deliver about 57 million gallons of drinking water a day.
Minneapolis has one of the largest distribution systems in the Midwest, with over 1,000 miles of water mains.
Minneapolis treats its water at one of two plants: the Fridley Plant and the Columbia Heights Plant.
Let’s take a look at the entire treatment process from start-to-finish:
- Softening: They remove 65,000 pounds of hard minerals from the water each day using a chemical softening process. The Mississippi River contains moderate levels of hard minerals and iron that need to be removed. The softening process reduces water hardness from 14 grains down to 5-6 grains.
- Filtering: The Fridley Plant uses granular activated carbon filters to remove contaminants and the Columbia Heights Plant uses ultrafiltration membranes.
- Disinfection: Because the Mississippi River is relatively dirty as far as water sources go, the city has to add a significant amount of chlorine and ammonia for disinfection. This is why sometimes Minneapolis water can sometimes taste like a swimming pool.
- Finishing: They add phosphate to the water to protect the distribution pipes from the corrosive effects of chemical disinfectants. They also add fluoride for tooth decay prevention.
- Storing: The clean water is stored in large reservoirs before being delivered to customers.
The city performs roughly 500 tests a day at various stages of the treatment process and at locations across the distribution system.
They test for bacteria, nitrate, other inorganic chemicals, radiological elements, and over 100 different industrial chemicals.
Utility officials do the best they can to keep Minneapolis water quality in tip-top shape, but is it enough to keep your family safe?
As you know, there’s a whole bunch of potentially dangerous pollutants lurking in the city’s water.
From PFAS to lead, it’s never a guarantee that the water coming out of your tap is 100% clean.
If you really want to ensure squeaky clean drinking water, you should consider installing a water filtration system in your home.
But not all filters are created equal…
Basic carbon filters that attach to your faucet can’t get rid of the hard-to-remove stuff like PFAS.
For that, you’ll have to bring out the heavy hitters.
High quality reverse osmosis (RO) filtration systems can remove up to 99.9% of all dangerous contaminants.
RO is just as effective as the ultrafiltration system used at the Minneapolis Columbia Heights Plant, but is more durable and better suited for residential use.
Cloud Water Filters combine several stages of filtration, including:
- Sediment filters to trap dirt, rust, dust, and debris
- Activated carbon filters to remove chlorine and improve the taste and smell of your water
- Ion exchange resins to remove excess hard minerals like calcium and magnesium
- RO membranes to remove all the nastiest, difficult-to-remove pollutants like arsenic and PFAS
- Polishing filters to catch any remaining contaminants
- Remineralization stage to add a healthy ratio of minerals back into the water and balance pH
Cloud even uses built-in software to monitor your water quality 24/7 through an app on your phone.
Are you ready to ensure clean, delicious tap water for you and your family?
