Water
Our Water Source
The City of Little Canada purchases treated water from St. Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) to serve its residents. SPRWS gets its water from the Mississippi River. It is piped to the chain of lakes in North Oaks and Vadnais Heights and then flows south to the treatment plant located at Rice Street and Roselawn Avenue. SPRWS also has a number of wells that can be used for augmenting the water supply in case of emergency. Once treated, the water is pumped into the 1.5 million gallon water tower in Little Canada and distributed to over 2500 water accounts throughout the City. Our water has only 5-7 grains of hardness so water softeners are not necessary.
Maintenance
Little Canada is a wholesale customer of SPRWS, which means the City maintains the entire water distribution system within Little Canada. There are over 35 miles of water main, around 600 fire hydrants, and hundreds of valves in the system. Every spring the Public Works staff exercises all of the valves and flushes all of the hydrants in the City to make sure they are all operable and to clear out any stagnant water and sediment in the water mains. There are over 2600 water meters in the City, which all have radio heads on them that transmit the readings to one of two antennas in the City. The readings are then downloaded to a computer at the City Center where the readings can be monitored for leaks and other issues and bills are generated.
Source Water Assessment
The water provided to customers meets drinking water standards, but the Minnesota Department of Health has also made a determination as to how vulnerable the source of water may be to future contamination incidents. If you wish to obtain the entire source water assessment regarding your drinking water, please call 651-201-4700 or 1-800-818-9318 (and press 5) during normal business hours. Also, you can view it online.
Questions
Call 651-766-4049 if you have questions about the City of Little Canada’s drinking water or would like information about opportunities for public participation in decisions that may affect the quality of the water.