Central Plains Water District

Water Quality Snapshot: Central Plains Water District

Central Plains Water District is a private-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 3,504 residents in Fessenden, North Dakota (Wells County) through 1,200 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 19 total violations for this system , of which 15 (79%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 2 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2005.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), recorded in 12 violations (MCL, health-based). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 1 PFAS compound was detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 7.1 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across North Dakota, EPA tracks 368 public water systems serving 712,349 people, with 13,624 cumulative violations and 2,673 health-based violations on record. About 94% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 37 violations. Statewide, 34 of 38 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (89.5%).

Central Plains Water District's 19 violations sit below the North Dakota average.

All figures above are sourced directly from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 public data releases and are updated as EPA publishes new reporting cycles.