A naturally-occurring but toxic chemical is prolific in Minnesota’s private drinking water wells, and most people don’t even know it’s there. 

Arsenic, a chemical that forms in rocks and was deposited in Minnesota by moving glaciers during the last ice age – some 14,000 years ago – has been found in nearly half of new wells built since 2008, according to a Minnesota Department of Health study. 

No amount of arsenic is safe for human consumption. Long-term exposure has been linked to various cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, type two diabetes, skin changes and reduced intelligence in children. 

“I think there’s this misconception that everybody in Minnesota has access to safe drinking water, that not having access must be a problem for other parts of the world,” said Chris O’Brien, public affairs director for Freshwater Society, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization. “Yet we have 20% of Minnesotans getting their drinking water from private wells and many of them are, frankly, not getting safe drinking water.”

Over a 13-year period from 2008 to 2021, Department of Health researchers sampled 65,000 wells across the state and found almost half of them had arsenic above two micrograms per liter. Wells in central and northwestern Minnesota counties had some of the highest concentrations at more than 10 micrograms per liter. 

But funding opportunities to get the arsenic out of these wells are few and far between. Treating arsenic requires a reverse osmosis system, which can cost upward of $5,000 for a residential home. This system also treats other major well water contaminants – lead, manganese, nitrate and coliform bacteria – but for many Minnesotans, the cost is just too high. 

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“I’ve met people who are reluctant to test their well water because if they do find high concentrations of something, they would rather put it off because they know they can’t afford to install that type of system,” said Amelia Olsen, extension educator for the University of Minnesota’s Water Resources Center.

There are some financial aid and loan opportunities available through the Department of Health for treatment systems, but these have limited eligibility criteria. Getting free testing depends where you live. The Department of Health has a list of accredited testing laboratories, well drillers and treatment companies that it recommends people work with if they do go about the work themselves. 

While access is tricky, water experts say it’s still important that well users get their water tested because it’s hard to predict exactly where arsenic will present itself. 

“It’s not like a nice, even area of arsenic concentrations,” said Emily Berquist, a hydrologist at the Minnesota Department of Health. One neighbor could have high arsenic, and the neighbor next door might not have any at all. “It’s very spotty,” she said.

If well users can’t treat their water, the agency suggests finding a different drinking water source, whether that’s bottled water from the store or filling up from someone else’s tap. The only predictable thing about arsenic, water experts say, is that it’s a problem that is not going away.

“There’s not a future where I think arsenic is going to become less common in groundwater in Minnesota,” Olsen said. “That’s just how the rocks interact with the water.”

Expanding access to testing and treatment options will be key in mitigating people’s risks. “The closer we can get to providing free testing and as reduced cost as possible for treatment,” Olsen said, the better. 

Claire Carlson is a Report for America corps member, covering drinking water for MinnPost and the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.

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