How many water violations are in Rice County?

Rice County has 729 total drinking water violations across 71 water systems, of which 412 are health-based violations. 60.6% of systems have at least one violation.

How many people get water from Rice County systems?

Water systems in Rice County serve approximately 64,806 people through 71 public water systems.

Has PFAS been detected in Rice County water?

Under EPA UCMR5, 1 of 3 tested systems in Rice County had at least one PFAS detection (33.3% of the UCMR5-tested subset - not of all 71 SDWIS systems).

What types of water sources supply Rice County?

Water systems in Rice County use GW (71 systems) as their primary water sources.

Are health-based violations serious?

Health-based violations indicate that drinking water exceeded Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) set by the EPA or failed treatment technique requirements. 56.5% of Rice County's violations are health-based. Among counties with any SDWIS violations, this extract puts Rice County in the higher health-based share band. Not all violations indicate immediate health risk, but they require corrective action.

Where does Rice County sit among U.S. counties for water-system population?

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Rice County ranks #797 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #13 of 87 counties in Minnesota. Ordinals use the same total_population DESC sort as the counties directory. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

Counties → Minnesota

Rice County, Minnesota

Compiled by PlainWater · May 15, 2026

SDWIS compliance plate

Sheet MN131 · Rice County 71 sys · 729 viol · #797/3254

VIOL-SEVERE · HEALTH-HIGH · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PFAS-MID · SRC-GW · SYS-MID · BOOK-FULL

VIOL-SEVERE 60.6% flagged
HEALTH-HIGH 56.5% health
RANK-UPPER #797/3254
PHOTO-FINISH ±0.1 pp
PFAS-MID 33.3% detect
SRC-GW GW lead 100%
SYS-MID 71 systems
BOOK-FULL 7/7 fields

Nearest flagged-rate peer: Ramsey County ( -0.1 pp flagged-rate)

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Rice County ranks #797 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #13 of 87 counties in Minnesota. See methodology · corpus placement.

Rice County standing, lower-flagged corpus third

Flagged-system rate 60.6% is at or below the corpus lower third (≤ 92.7% flagged) across 2,973 counties with ≥3 SDWIS systems . Health-based share 56.5% is health-based share above the upper third (> 24.5%) . UCMR5 detect rate 33.3% is UCMR5 detect rate in the tested-pool middle third (≤ 33.3%) . Population served ranks #797 of 3,254 · #13 of 87 in Minnesota.

Water Systems

System Name	Population	Violations	PFAS
Faribault	23,718	6	Clean
Northfield	20,790	10	Detected
Lonsdale	3,913	40	Clean
Flying J #576	2,500	13	-
Carleton College	2,485	24	-
MN Correctional Facility - Faribault	2,103	26	-
Heath Creek Rest Area MNDOT	1,750	63	-
Dundas	1,490	22	-
Morristown	987	7	-
Nerstrand Big Woods State Park	900	29	-
Nerstrand	299	22	-
Holy Cross School	250	20	-
Roberds Lake Resort & Campground	200	7	-
Willinger's Golf Club LLC	200	0	-
Webster	190	31	-
Camp Omega	160	0	-
Lemieux Resort	150	7	-
St. Patrick's Church	150	0	-
Sakatah Lake State Park	150	43	-
Trondhjem Lutheran Church	150	7	-
Winjums Shady Acre Resort	125	7	-
Rolling Green First Addition	110	92	-
Camp Faribo	100	7	-
Lake Country Convenience and Bait	100	7	-
Millstone Creek Mobile Home Park	90	38	-
McCullough Park & Campground	90	7	-
Trinity Lutheran Church and School	80	5	-
Church of The Most Holy Trinity	80	15	-
Little Prairie United Methodist Church	75	12	-
K.G.P. Telecommunications	70	0	-
Northfield Evangelical Free Church	65	0	-
South Cedar Shores Mobile Home Park	60	19	-
Church of The Annunciation of Hazelwood	60	0	-
The Lodge	50	6	-
Wholesale Tire	50	0	-
Channel Inn	50	11	-
Straight River Golf Course	50	0	-
Fireside Orchard and Gardens	50	0	-
Red Barn Farm	50	0	-
Morgedal Homeowners Association	49	9	-
Cannon City Community Church	40	0	-
Sunrise Estates	32	0	-
St. John's United Church of Christ	30	14	-
Vollbrecht's Campground	30	7	-
Doc's Dock Resort	30	0	-
Hope United Methodist Church	30	8	-
Camp Maiden Rock East	25	14	-
Boonie's Beef & Brew, Inc.	25	7	-
Solor Lutheran Church	25	14	-
Timm's Trucking Inc.	25	0	-

Compare beyond Minnesota

Lower-flagged peers for Rice County

Cross-state counties nearest Rice County on flagged-system share (60.6%) and cumulative violation count (729). In-state neighbours stay on the compliance plate above.

Similar flagged-system rate

Nearest cross-state counties by % of SDWIS systems with at least one violation on record.

4 peers

Similar violation load

Nearest cross-state counties by cumulative SDWIS violation count (all systems in the county).

4 peers

Read our methodology · Check your water system - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 PFAS monitoring data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainWater

Compiled by PlainWater, Drinking Water Quality Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainWater is rendered directly from EPA SDWIS drinking-water data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on EPA SDWIS data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.