ABOVE: Water Operator Taylor Hillman conducts a water hardness test at the Fairmont Water Plant. Water from before and after entering the plant was sent out for testing and used in the 2025 water report, where Fairmont had successful results on all tested contaminants, including PFAS variants.

FAIRMONT – Fairmont’s water came up clear in 2025, as all required tests for contaminants were within safe levels and had no violations, according to the 2025 Water Report.

Tested materials include lead, copper, nitrates, as well as PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ called PFOS and PFOA. All of them were under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit, some drastically so. With the EPA aiming for 90 percent of homes to have less than 15 parts per billion of lead, Fairmont’s number was down at 1.47 parts per billion.

Water and Wastewater Superintendent Brady Powers said most of the information they receive comes directly from the Minnesota Department of Health.

“It comes through submittals that we send to them, or test results that we send to them throughout the year,” he said. “They put the form together, we approve the form and then it’s posted on the city website and sent out of the utility bills.”

While some are sent off, Fairmont’s Wastewater Plant also has testing facilities to look under the microscope at what’s in the water.

“We can analyze probably 65 to 70 percent of them,” Powers said. “The main ones that we do are turbidity and pH.”

While the state picks what needs to be checked, Powers said all water treatment plants are different.

“With us being a surface water treatment plant, we bring in the algae side of everything,” he said. “We definitely have more tests to test for, but ultimately they’re the ones that set it up in our permits.”

As for when tests are done, Powers said it is spread out throughout the year, in different frequencies.

“We have a yearly calendar,” he said. “Some stuff is monthly, some stuff is yearly, some stuff is quarterly, some stuff is every six months, depending on what it is.”

Looking over all of the test results, Powers said he is very happy with how they turned out. He said they are also pretty similar to the 2024 report, looking to establish a pattern of consistency in clean water.

“It’s a huge thing,” Powers said. “The biggest thing is just staying on top of it. We do have seasonal changes in the summer with the algae and the lake levels and the lake temp, but if we can stay consistent and put out a consistent quality of water that the residents are used to, that’s the biggest thing for me.”

Given the rise of PFAS, however, he said people can expect a change thanks to the Department of Health in the not-too-distant future.

“Obviously, every year that goes by, especially with the introduction of PFAS, we’re having to post our PFAS results,” Powers said. “We’re just diving into that, how they want to do it moving forward. Next year these consumer confidence reports are going to come out every six months.”

By doing so, Powers said it will help give people more numbers and make them more up-to-date.

“Just to be more upfront,” he said. “The consumer confidence reports are done on arrears. This report is from 2025; we’re obviously in 2026. Once we get all the data, they put it together, then they submit it, and I work with them to put it together in this form. I think they’re trying to be more upfront and give the people more results more often.”

Looking forward, Powers said they can use these results in a number of ways for Fairmont’s water quality.

“We can use it to do things better, maybe make some changes,” he said. “We can use them in some calculations. Obviously, we get a lot of these up front, and we see these numbers prior to the public even seeing them. We can fine-tune things and make changes if we need to in the facility, but thankfully, we don’t have that right now.”

To view the results and full breakdown, visit tinyurl.com/fmt2025.