State profile · EPA SDWIS + UCMR5
Minnesota Drinking Water Quality
6,557 systems serve 5,239,398. Health-based share of the violation record is 61%; SDWIS systems with ≥1 violation: 51.6%.
- 6,557
- SDWIS water systems
- 59,895
- Total violations
- 51.6%
- SDWIS systems w/ a violation
- 44.4%
- UCMR5 PFAS rate (196 tested)
The verdict
61% of 59,895 recorded violations are health-based across 6,557 systems. According to EPA SDWIS population served, Minnesota ranks #23 of 66 states and territories by people served through public water systems.
- #23 of 66
- Population · states corpus
- 59,895
- Total EPA violations on record
- 61%
- Health-based (MCL / treatment)
- 51.6%
- SDWIS systems with ≥1 violation
SDWIS violation % and UCMR5 PFAS % use different denominators (full inventory vs tested subset). Population ordinal uses SDWIS population served.
Minnesota standing, low SDWIS violation-rate third
Minnesota is in the lower third of jurisdictions by violation rate (51.6%; lower-third rate (≤ 92.5%)). That is a relative placement among peers, not a claim that most systems are clean - 3,386 of 6,557 still carry ≥1 record. Population served is large (5,239,398; larger served population (> 5,131,439)), so household exposure scale sits behind inventory and rate. Health-based share is 61% - most of this ledger is MCL or treatment-technique exceedance, not paperwork. UCMR5 PFAS detection is 44.4% on the tested subset (upper-third UCMR5 detection (> 35.3%)) - a different denominator from the SDWIS violation rate. Systems listed below are ranked by population served or violation count; pair rate with inventory size before reading exposure scale.
Nationwide similar states
Nearest by SDWIS violation rate
Nearest by population served
Health-based share of this violation record
EPA SDWIS classifications for Minnesota's 59,895 recorded violations.
Minnesota vs nearest violation-rate peers
Share of SDWIS-listed systems with at least one recorded violation; peers are nearest by absolute rate distance, not a fixed top-seven list.
- MN
Minnesota
51.6 % of systems
- 07
EPA Region 7 — Tribal Water Systems
57.9 % of systems
- SC
South Carolina
65.3 % of systems
- WI
Wisconsin
72.1 % of systems
- DE
Delaware
74.8 % of systems
What this shows Minnesota's rate is 51.6% (3,386 of 6,557 systems; lower-third rate (≤ 92.5%)). This is a comparison of recorded SDWIS violations, not a measure of current water safety.
Minnesota vs all jurisdictions by SDWIS system inventory
Where this state's public water system count sits among every state and territory on PlainWater
6,557 7th of 66 higher than 59 of 66 jurisdictions
States and territories, banded by SDWIS-listed public water system count
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more jurisdictions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source EPA SDWIS state aggregates · 2026-05-15
Largest Water Systems
Most Violations
Counties in Minnesota
Showing top 30 of 87 counties.
Context: PFAS in drinking water · methodology · all states
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.