Minnesota

Water Quality in the State of Minnesota

Minnesota, the “bread and butter state”, is best known for its numerous lakes, forests and extravagant fairs. The state’s main industries are agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining and bioscience. Minnesota residents get their drinking water from a variety of sources. 75% of all Minnesotans get their water from wells that pull water from underground aquifers. Residents in more populated areas such as Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Cloud rely mainly on the Mississippi River for their water source. Duluth residents receive their water from Lake Superior.


Water Hardness by City

When rain falls, it gathers in lakes and aquifers. Rock formations in these bodies of water begin to slowly melt and enrich the water with dissolved minerals. The greater the number of dissolved minerals in the water, the harder it is. Minnesota water is considered hard to very hard depending on the location with an average state range of 192 PPM.

The hardest water in the state hails from Minnetonka city, their water comes from the Jordan Aquifer and provides a water hardness level of 310 PPM. For reference, water is considered hard between 120-180 PPM. 180 and above is very hard and is the source of many headaches for businesses/homeowners like in Rochester with 323 PPM and Windom with 240 PPM. While most Minnesota cities have hard water, there are a few cities with moderately soft water. Minneapolis water is considered moderately soft, at 65 Parts Per Million. This is because Minneapolis has a water-softening plant that softens the water provided by the Mississippi River before it is dispersed to Minneapolis residents. 

For more information on the water hardness in specific cities, please see the table below.

City and Zip CodesWater Hardness Data

Andover

55304

165 PPM (mg/L) or 10 gpg

Anoka

55303

255 PPM (mg/L) or 15 gpg

Becker

55308 | 55309

340 PPM (mg/L) or 20 gpg

Bemidji

56601

287 PPM (mg/L) or 17 gpg

Big Falls

56101

190 PPM (mg/L) or 11 gpg

Big Lake

55309

311 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Brainerd

56401

244 PPM (mg/L) or 14 gpg

Buffalo

55313

357 PPM (mg/L) or 21 gpg

Burnsville

55337 

310 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Chaska

55318

296 PPM (mg/L) or 17 gpg

Circle Pines

55104

365 PPM (mg/L) or 21 gpg

Cloquet

55720

322 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Cottage Grove

55016

301 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Detroit Lakes

56501

377 PPM (mg/L) or 22 gpg

Duluth

55802 | 55803 | 55804 | 55805 | 55806 | 55807 | 55808 | 55810 | 55811 | 55812 | 55814 

45 PPM (mg/L) or 3 gpg

East Grand Forks

56721

327 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Eden Praire

55344 | 55347 | 55329

90 PPM (mg/L) or 5 gpg

Elk River

55330

129 PPM (mg/L) or 8 gpg

Excelsior

55331

301 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Fairbault

55021

165 PPM (mg/L) or 10 gpg

Farmington

55024

196 PPM (mg/L) or 11 gpg

Fergus Falls

56537

226 PPM (mg/L) or 13 gpg

Forest Lake

55025

222 PPM (mg/L) or 13 gpg

Grand Rapids

55744

98 PPM (mg/L) or 6 gpg

Hastings

55033

278 PPM (mg/L) or 16 gpg

Hopkins

55305 | 55343

352 PPM (mg/L) or 21 gpg

Inver Grove Heights

55076 | 55077

278 PPM (mg/L) or 17 gpg

Istani

55040

283 PPM (mg/L) or 17 gpg

Lakeville

55044

308 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Little Falls

56345

196 PPM (mg/L) or 11 gpg

Manikato

56001 | 56003

339 PPM (mg/L) or 20 gpg

Maple Grove

55311

453 PPM (mg/L) or 26 gpg

Minnetonka

55345 

310 PPM (mg/L) or 18 gpg

Minneapolis

55401 | 55402 | 55403 | 55404 | 55405 | 55406 | 55407 | 55408 | 55409 | 55410 | 55411 | 55412 | 55413 | 55414 | 55415 | 55416 | 55417 | 55418 | 55419 | 55420 | 55421 | 55422 | 55423 | 55424 | 55425 | 55426 | 55427 | 55428 | 55429 | 55430 | 55431 | 55432 | 55433 | 55434 | 55435 | 55436 | 55437 | 55438 | 55439 | 55441 | 55442 | 55443 | 55444 | 55445 | 55446 | 55447 | 55448 | 55449 | 55450 | 55454

65 PPM (mg/L) or 4 gpg

Moorehead

56560

233 PPM (mg/L) or 14 gpg

Northfield

55057

189 PPM (mg/L) or 11 gpg

Osseo

55369

210 PPM (mg/L) or 12 gpg

Owatoona

55060

241 PPM (mg/L) or 14 gpg

Prior Lake

55372

317 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Red Wing

55066

315 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Rochester

55901 |55902 | 55904 | 55905 | 55906

323 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Rosemount

55068

278 PPM (mg/L) or 16 gpg

Saint Cloud

56301 | 56303 | 56304

135 PPM (mg/L) or 8 gpg

Saint Paul

55101 | 55102 | 55103 | 55104 | 55105 | 55106 | 55107 | 55108 | 55109 | 55110 | 55111 | 55112 | 55113 | 55114 | 55115 | 55116 | 55117 | 55118 | 55119 | 55120 | 55121 | 55122 | 55123 | 55124 | 55125 | 55126 | 55127 | 55128 | 55129 | 55130 | 55155 

175 PPM (mg/L) or 10 gpg

Savage

55378

314 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Shakopee

55379

333 PPM (mg/L) or 20 gpg

Stillwater

55082

245 PPM (mg/L) or 14 gpg

Windom

56101

240 PPM (mg/L) or 14 gpg

Willmar

56201

269 PPM (mg/L) or 15 gpg

Winona

55987

220 PPM (mg/L) or 13 gpg

Worthington

56187

314 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

Zimmerman

55398

322 PPM (mg/L) or 19 gpg

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PPM = Parts Per Million

mg/L = Milligrams Per Liter

gpg = Grains Per Gallon

Farming, Food Processing and Hard Water

Minnesota is the United States’ largest producer of sugar beets, wild rice and green peas, The state is also a leading producer of hogs, corn, soybeans and wheat. Minnesota is home to some of the country’s biggest food processing companies, which makes food processing the second most important industry for the state.

As a great deal of Minnesota has water rich in calcium (the primary source of water hardness), many farms and food process plants experience issues related to scale buildup in their irrigators, production and processing equipment. In addition, contaminants polluting soil and waterways have increased greatly over the past few decades. There is a greater need for waste and chemical control. Many farmers are looking for eco-friendly solutions that can provide quality crop protection at a cheaper cost.

Solutions to your Water Quality Problems

Fixing your water quality issues in the state of Minnesota will depend on your specific water source. It is best to test your potable water supply in order to get a better understanding of your water quality. Testing is relatively cheap. The test results will allow you to understand if your potable water has issues that need to be addressed. Common solutions to water contamination problems may include a water filtration system, a reverse osmosis system or other whole home water treatment solutions.

 A problem that almost all Minnesota residents will have to deal with is hard water. One old-fashioned, inefficient, expensive and unhealthy method to treat hard water is with a salt-based water softener. Most people don’t realize that if you’re using a water softener you are basically removing calcium and magnesium from your drinking water and adding salt to your diet. In addition, many states are banning the use of salt-based water softeners

Alternative water treatment solutions such as “water conditioners” have been gaining popularity in recent years because they are cheap to operate and the best eco-friendly solution for hard water. Hydropath technology, which powers the HydroFLOW water conditioners is by far the most efficient and cost-effective eco-friendly solution to deal with hard water problems. To learn more about how HydroFLOW solves the problems created by hard water, please check out our technology page. You might want to read this blog that explains the difference between water conditioners and water softeners: Water Conditioner vs. Water Softener Blog.

For more information, please contact HydroFLOW Midwest