Cold Spring Official: Town’s Water Is Safe To Drink

COLD SPRING - Cold Spring's Public Works Director says the city's water is safe to drink. That's after a report was released two weeks ago by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

In the report the MPCA says "up to 60 percent of the groundwater monitoring wells sampled in Central Minnesota are contaminated with nitrates well above the safe drinking water standard." The report specifically named area cities like Cold Spring, Becker, and Clear Lake.

However Cold Spring Public Works Director Jon Stueve says that's not exactly accurate...

Cold Spring's water is perfectly fine. We have things that we have to meet with the department of health standards. Some of our wells are at like a five parts per million for nitrates, but the limit is 10.

Stueve says they may have to look at treating the water for nitrates in the future.

We're looking at treatment for our new well field, and that would be for nitrate removal. But, as of now, our water treatment is pretty simplified as long as our nitrates stay below that level, which they have.

The MPCA report says nitrate contamination can lead to illnesses such as "blue baby syndrome", a fatal blood disorder in infants.

The chemicals can enter the groundwater from sources like animal manure and fertilizers.