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County water report

Grand Forks County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Grand Forks County, North Dakota.

Water grade

A

Water score

86.0

State rank

#12

of 52

Health violations

0

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

31.5%

89 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

32

24,342 recent measurements

Live streamflow

89%

RED RIVER OF THE NORTH AT GRAND FORKS, ND

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Grand Forks County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

A

Score: 86.0 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

0

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

32% impaired

89 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

89% of mean

RED RIVER OF THE NORTH AT GRAND FORKS, ND

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

32

24,342 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

A

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

86.0/100

Health violations

0

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

0.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Grand Forks County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Grand Forks County earns an A grade for drinking water quality, scoring 86.0 out of 100. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) records zero health-based violations over the past five years — a strong compliance signal for a mid-sized county.

Watershed Conditions

EPA ATTAINS

Under the Clean Water Act §303(d), EPA ATTAINS tracks whether waterways meet quality standards for drinking, recreation, and aquatic life (reporting cycle: 2022). A substantial 31.5% of assessed waterways are impaired (28 of 89 water bodies) across Grand Forks County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are selenium and physical substrate habitat alterations. Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T13:45:00.000-05:00) puts RED RIVER OF THE NORTH at 3.1k cfs — running somewhat below its historical average at 89% of mean. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Grand Forks County has moderate coverage with 32 active monitoring sites with 24,342 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include organics, pesticide and physical. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Grand Forks County

Water Verdict

Grand Forks County, North Dakota receives an excellent water quality assessment with a grade of A and a score of 86.0 out of 100. The water supply meets or exceeds federal safety standards, and residents can generally drink tap water with confidence. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 89 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 31.5% listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act — a source-water measure that is tracked independently of tap-water compliance. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 89.1% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Grand Forks County, North Dakota show zero health-based violations, indicating that the county's water systems met all federal safety standards during the reporting period. The violation rate is zero per 100,000 people served, which is the best possible outcome. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 24,342 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

The EPA compliance record for Grand Forks County shows no recent health-based violations. No health-based violations have been recorded, placing Grand Forks County in the top tier for drinking-water safety. Grand Forks County's drinking-water compliance score is 86.0 out of 100. As a routine precaution, requesting your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report each July gives you a full list of detected contaminants and their treatment levels. With 32 active water-quality monitoring sites in Grand Forks County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the RED RIVER OF THE NORTH gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Grand Forks County has better water quality than the average county in North Dakota. Its water score is 14.4 points higher than the state average, indicating stronger water system performance relative to neighboring counties.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Grand Forks County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Selenium

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 2

    Physical Substrate Habitat Alterations

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 3

    Methylmercury

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Grand Forks County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Grand Forks County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Grand Forks County

Consumer Confidence Reports (ND)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in North Dakota

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

31.5%

28 of 89 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    SELENIUM

  • 2

    PHYSICAL SUBSTRATE HABITAT ALTERATIONS

  • 3

    METHYLMERCURY

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Impairment is determined under the Clean Water Act §303(d): a water body is impaired when it fails to meet state-defined quality standards for designated uses (drinking, recreation, aquatic life). Assessment coverage varies by state; counties without assessed water bodies are not shown.

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

32

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

24K

24,342 total readings

Most Measured

  • Organics, Pesticide
  • Physical
  • Nutrient

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

3,150cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

89%

Below typical

Primary Streamgage

RED RIVER OF THE NORTH AT GRAND FORKS, ND

USGS site
05082500
Drainage area
30,100 sq mi
Long-term mean
3,534 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

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Safety Grade for Grand Forks County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

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Grand Forks County has good water quality

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Grand Forks County, North Dakota?
Grand Forks County, North Dakota has a drinking-water quality grade of A with a score of 86.0/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 0 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.
Are there any water violations in Grand Forks County?
Grand Forks County has 0 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Zero violations is an excellent record indicating consistent compliance with federal drinking water standards.
How healthy are the watersheds in Grand Forks County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 31.5% of Grand Forks County's 89 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (28 impaired). The top reported causes are SELENIUM, PHYSICAL SUBSTRATE HABITAT ALTERATIONS, METHYLMERCURY. Impairment means the water body fails to meet state quality standards for at least one designated use — drinking water source, recreation, aquatic life, or fish consumption. Note: watershed impairment doesn't always translate to tap-water issues; treatment plants can remove most regulated contaminants.
How much water-quality monitoring happens in Grand Forks County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 24,342 measurements from 32 monitoring sites in Grand Forks County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Organics, Pesticide, Physical, Nutrient. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.
What's happening with rivers in Grand Forks County right now?
Grand Forks County's primary USGS streamgage on the RED RIVER OF THE NORTH has a pipeline snapshot of 3,150 cubic feet per second — 89% of the long-term mean of 3,534.04 cfs. Flow is within typical range for this gauge. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Grand Forks County water compare to the North Dakota average?
Grand Forks County's SDWIS water quality score of 86.0/100 is higher than the North Dakota state average of 71.6. The average water quality grade across North Dakota is C, based on data from 52 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Grand Forks County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Grand Forks County has a water quality grade of A (86.0/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
Does Grand Forks County have clean drinking water?
Grand Forks County has 0 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 86.0/100 and grade A, the county's drinking water meets EPA standards with no recorded health violations. Note: drinking-water compliance speaks to the public water system, not necessarily to the watershed itself — check the Watershed Health zone for ATTAINS §303(d) data.
How does Grand Forks County rank for water quality in North Dakota?
Grand Forks County ranks #12 out of 52 counties in North Dakota by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 86.0/100, it falls in the top third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Adams County

North Dakota

A

86.0

Water score

Barnes County

North Dakota

A

86.0

Water score

Billings County

North Dakota

A

86.0

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Watershed health and impaired-waterway data from the EPA ATTAINS Clean Water Act §303(d) assessments, state-reported and EPA-finalized.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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