Lino Lakes Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Lino Lakes, Minnesota, in Anoka County — a northern Twin Cities suburb in the Anoka Sand Plain corridor of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro, a growing residential community on the eastern edge of the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes conservation corridor — receives its municipal water from the City of Lino Lakes Water Utility, which draws from the Mississippi River through the regional Anoka County water supply or from the Anoka Sand Plain glacial aquifer — a glacial outwash aquifer in northern Anoka County.

The moderately hard 176.5 mg/L hardness and TDS of 365.1 mg/L reflect the Anoka County area's carbonate geological character. The Anoka Sand Plain aquifer overlies the Silurian Prairie du Chien Dolomite and the Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone sequence of the Twin Cities Basin. Despite the sandy glacial outwash (which tends to produce softer water), groundwater in the Anoka Sand Plain contacts the underlying Silurian dolomite bedrock, contributing dissolved calcium and magnesium that moderately harden the supply. The Mississippi River supply at this reach (north of Minneapolis) carries the same hard dolomite-spring character as the Golden Valley supply (271.5 mg/L) but Lino Lakes' blended groundwater-river supply produces a moderate finished water hardness.

At 176.5 mg/L, Lino Lakes' water is moderately hard — scale builds in kettles and appliances over months, dishwashers benefit from rinse aid, and bathroom fixtures develop calcium deposits. Quarterly descaling is appropriate. The PFAS level of 5.2 ppt warrants a certified drinking water filter — the Twin Cities metro PFAS contamination from 3M's Woodbury and Cottage Grove manufacturing facilities has affected Anoka County groundwater through Mississippi River transport and regional groundwater plume movement.