Blaine, Minnesota

What is the Water Quality in Blaine, Minnesota?

Compared to other US cities, Blaine water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 26 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 740x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 289x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 247x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Blaine water.

What’s in Blaine water?

Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 26 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

11 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Blaine have Lead contamination?

Yes, Blaine has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 2.0 parts per billion (ppb).

The legal limit for lead is 15 parts per billion. Being well-below this level is a good thing.

• Concentrations between 3.8 ppb and 15 ppb put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels. Read more about the symptoms of Lead in water.

There is no safe level of lead for humans.

• The good news is that 99.99% of the lead can be removed.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does Blaine’s water come from?

Blaine’s water comes from the Sand Creek watershed.

All 7 water sources in the Sand Creek watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Sand Creek – Impaired
• 1 unnamed creek – Unknown
• 5 unnamed ditches – Unknown

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition.

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of three uses:

1. Aquatic Life
2. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
3. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve Blaine’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Blaine can be surprising.

But there are things you can do in your home to clean up your water.

To Remove Lead and Other Contaminants In Your Home:

There is one solution that beats Brita, PUR, and expensive whole house systems.

• It costs less per gallon.
• Needs fewer filter changes.
• And it doesn’t make your water taste weird.

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out at least 85% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Blaine water.
  • Brita can filter 14 contaminants and Lead depending on the filter.
  • Note: We may receive a commission if you decide to purchase filters through links on this page.
• To filter out 23 of the 26 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • 1,2-Dichloroethane – Used in manufacturing of PVC pipes, furniture, auto upholstery, wall coverings, housewares, and automobile parts.
    • 1,4-Dioxane – irritant of the eyes and respiratory tract. “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
    • Arsenic
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Chloroform
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – HAA5 and HAA9
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Radium
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Xylenes (total) – “Hearing disorders have been linked to xylene exposure.”

*Chlorination is an effective method of disinfecting/treating drinking water. You can then use a water filter to reduce the effects of chlorination byproducts to get the safest, cleanest water possible.

In Your Community:

Contact your local government officials and put pressure on them to invest in cleaner waterways and upgraded city water filtration and treatment.

Go to: https://www.blainemn.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Minnesota Cities

Minnesota Water Quality Page