When Craig Franzmeier took over his family’s farm in Coates in central Dakota County, he inherited a pesky, decades-old problem: polluted well water, teeming with nitrates that likely spring from farm fertilizers seeping into the sandy soil.
State studies indicate that up to 55 percent of the private wells used by Coates residents may have nitrate levels above drinking water standards.
Rosemount gets its water from aquifers, as does Coates.
But the city has many wells and the water is safe, Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste said.
A county analysis shows that two out of three wells tested in Coates have nitrates above the standard.
Steve Scott, an environmental health specialist for Dakota County, agreed that there’s growing awareness of the gravity of nitrates and herbicides in groundwater.
Despite its growing suburbs, Dakota County still has a majority of its land — 52 percent — farmed for row crops like corn and soybeans, county officials said.
"We don’t know of any other place in the country where private drinking water wells are being tested for pesticides on a regular basis," said Jill Trescott, formerly the county’s groundwater protection supervisor.
Signs warn: Don’t drink it Franzmeier, who is Coates’ mayor, said his home has a filtering system to counter high nitrates.
Though he tests his water with the county yearly, he estimated that less than a third of Coates residents do the same.