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Center City

What EPA’s and Minnesota’s records show in this utility’s water: nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
305 people
Connections
300
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Center City, MN
County
Chisago
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

55012

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1999 to 2024.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.4 ppm, for the period ending June 30, 1994. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Nitrate: Minnesota’s yearly summaries per water system, 2023 to 2025.

Fluoride: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Jan. 31, 2012 to Nov. 20, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.0ppb

90th percentile, 2022 to 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.0 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits1

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

1.2ppm

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

2019 average: 0.31 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.2 ppm, in 2014, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 1.4 ppm. In 2019, the latest year on file, its four samples averaged 0.31 ppm.

What handles it

One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Nitrate

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There is 1 monitoring or reporting violation: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate results here are Minnesota’s own yearly summaries from 2023 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Fluoride comes from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Center City’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has newer results for those and the contaminants this page does not show.

  • Your own plumbing. Lead results are the 90th percentile across homes the utility samples. Your home’s service line, solder and fixtures decide yours. A certified lab test is the only way to know.

  • What it means for your health. This page reports what the records show and EPA’s limits and goals; it is not medical advice. If you are worried about a health effect, talk to a doctor or your local health department.

  • Anything after the latest data. SDWIS data is from 2026 Q3; UCMR 5 didn’t sample this utility; Minnesota’s yearly summaries cover 2023 to 2025; EPA’s compliance samples are from Jan. 31, 2012 to Nov. 20, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Center City’s results are for the water it sends out. What your own service line, solder and fixtures add shows up only in a test of your tap, by a lab Minnesota certifies.

The 3 labs Minnesota certifies closest to the area Center City serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Instrumental Research, Inc.

    Fridley, MN · about 33 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (763) 571-3698

  • Pace Analytical Services, LLC - Minneapolis

    Minneapolis, MN · about 38 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals

    (612) 607-1700

  • Water Laboratories, Inc.

    Elk River, MN · about 39 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals

    (763) 441-7509

All 24 certified labs for Minnesota

Sources

PWSID MN1130001. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Chisago County

All Minnesota utilities

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