Jamestown Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Jamestown, North Dakota, in Stutsman County — the Stutsman County seat adjacent to Medina and Valley City on the James River in south-central North Dakota — receives its municipal water from the Jamestown Water Division, drawing from the James River and associated aquifer (Stutsman County) through the south-central North Dakota water treatment system.

The hard 170 mg/L hardness and TDS of 412.6 mg/L reflect the south-central North Dakota James River's calcareous glacial drift character — consistent with other central North Dakota communities (Bismarck: ~175 mg/L; Valley City: ~165 mg/L). The James River aquifer at Stutsman County is developed in calcareous Pleistocene Wisconsin glacial till (glacially ground Cretaceous carbonate and Permian evaporitic — primary hardness contributor), Cretaceous Pierre Shale (calcareous marine — secondary mineral contributor), and minor Devonian carbonates. The concentrated Pleistocene glacial carbonate grinding of the Northern Plains carbonate bedrock produces the hard south-central ND supply.

At 170 mg/L, Jamestown's water is hard — scale builds steadily in kettles and appliances, dishwashers benefit from rinse aid, and water heaters should be descaled annually. Monthly descaling is recommended. The PFAS level of 1.8 ppt is very low — the Stutsman County south-central North Dakota agricultural corridor has no significant AFFF military PFAS sources adjacent to the James River watershed, and the rural Northern Plains setting produces some of the lowest PFAS readings in the dataset.