Maple Grove, Minnesota

What is the Water Quality in Maple Grove, Minnesota?

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

Most of their 19 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 32x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 122x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Maple Grove water.

What’s in Maple Grove water?

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

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

These are five of the 19 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Maple Grove water have Lead contamination?

Yes, Maple Grove has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2014 through 2016 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 Maple Grove’s water come from?

Maple Grove’s water comes from the Rice Lake – Elm Creek watershed.

All 17 EPA assessed water sources in the Rice Lake – Elm Creek watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• County Ditch 16
• Edward
• Elm Creek
• Fish
• Goose
• Rice – Outlet Bay, South Marsh, West Bay, and Main Lake
• Three Unnamed waterbodies
• Weaver

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 these uses:

1. Drinking Water
2. Aquatic Life
3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Maple Grove 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 some 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 85% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Maple Grove water.
  • Brita can filter 12 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 17 of the 19 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective at filtering out cancer-causing contaminants.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • 1,4-Dioxane
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform – health risks
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Selenium – health risks
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroethylene

*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.maplegrovemn.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Minnesota Cities

Minnesota Water Quality Page