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Dakota County Publishes PFAS Groundwater Dashboard Showing Widespread Contamination

The public map gives regulators and residents detailed well-by-well results to guide more testing and steps to limit exposure.

Overview

  • On Thursday the county posted an interactive dashboard with PFAS testing from 2018–2025 that lets users view results for each sampled well.
  • County samples found PFAS in all 27 environmental monitoring wells and in 94 of 114 private drinking wells, with 18 different PFAS chemicals detected.
  • Some measurements exceeded federal or state drinking-water guidance, prompting the county to share the full dataset with the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
  • County officials said most people served by municipal systems are currently safe, advised private-well owners to use granulated activated carbon filters to cut PFAS exposure, and said sampling will continue.
  • The reporting places these results in a long regional history of PFAS use that began with local 3M production in the 1950s and points to costly, complex cleanup and monitoring work ahead.