Rice County, Minnesota: drinking water report. Rice County in southern Minnesota has about 67,000 residents, with Faribault and Northfield as the main…
Rice County in southern Minnesota has about 67,000 residents, with Faribault and Northfield as the main communities. Groundwater from glacial drift and bedrock aquifers provides nearly all drinking water. The county's agricultural economy – dairy, corn, and soybeans – operates on soils that range from heavy clay till to sandy outwash, creating variable groundwater vulnerability across short distances.
The sandy outwash areas in western Rice County are particularly vulnerable to nitrate contamination. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's 2024 groundwater monitoring report, nitrate concentrations in the surficial aquifer beneath these sandy zones averaged 8.3 mg/L, with 24% of sampled wells exceeding the MCL of 10 mg/L. The clay till areas in the eastern part of the county show much lower contamination.
A 2024 MDH investigation found PFAS at 5 ppt in one public water system in Faribault, likely from diffuse sources rather than a single point of contamination. Naturally occurring manganese in the bedrock aquifer is another concern – several wells in the county exceed the health advisory level of 300 ppb.
Water quality in Rice County depends heavily on your geology. If you are in a sandy outwash area, your well is more exposed to surface contamination. The Minnesota Geological Survey's well atlas can help you understand what lies beneath your property.
Check your water for available data. For nitrate and manganese, reverse osmosis handles both effectively. Our water filter guide covers well water systems suited to Minnesota conditions. Get your detailed report for local data, and visit our Minnesota page for statewide patterns.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Rice County, MN.
The EPA places Rice County, MN in Zone 1 - the EPA's highest-risk category, where the predicted average indoor radon level is above 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
54% of homes in Rice County, MN were built before 1980, and 24% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Rice County, MN averages 6.5 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
13 public water systems serving Rice County, MN have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 1 water systems serving Rice County, MN carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Combined Radium (226 + 228) | 1 |
| Gross Alpha (excl. radon & uranium) | 1 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.