{
  "type": "water",
  "pwsid": "OH0700412",
  "name": "Belmont Co. Sanitary District 3",
  "county": "Belmont",
  "population": 26822,
  "producer": true,
  "source_class": "groundwater",
  "label": "Ohio River valley aquifer (wells)",
  "bodies": [
    "Ohio River (via alluvial aquifer)"
  ],
  "intakes": [],
  "wells": 1,
  "aquifer": "Alluvial aquifer along the Ohio River, north of Bellaire",
  "notes": "Belmont Co. Sanitary District 3 sources from a shallow, high-susceptibility well/aquifer north of Bellaire tied to the Ohio River valley.",
  "urls": [
    "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf",
    "https://www.softprowatersystems.com/pages/belmont-county-sanitary-district-3-pws-water-company-ohio"
  ],
  "chain": [
    "OH0700412"
  ],
  "plants": [
    {
      "n": "Belmont County Sanitary District 3 (Belmont County Water & Sewer District)",
      "a": "67711 Oakview Drive, St. Clairsville, OH 43950 (district office; treatment plant/well street address not confirmed)",
      "la": 40.0722,
      "lo": -80.8987,
      "pt": "approximate",
      "wb": "Ohio River",
      "src": "A well in the Ohio River valley (alluvial) aquifer serving the St. Clairsville-area system; specific well-field location not documented in available sources",
      "cls": "groundwater",
      "in": [
        {
          "n": "Ohio River Valley Well (north of Bellaire)",
          "wb": "Ohio River alluvial (sand-and-gravel) aquifer",
          "role": "primary",
          "src": "Single production well in the Ohio River alluvial valley north of Bellaire; exact well-field site and depth not documented in available sources (1 well)",
          "la": 40.0722,
          "lo": -80.8987,
          "pt": "approximate",
          "wells": [
            "Well 1"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "facts": {
    "hist": [
      [
        "1990s",
        "Ohio EPA sampling finds VOCs in the district's water on 13 occasions: cis-1,2-dichloroethylene 11 times at 2.0-6.9 ug/L, 1,1,1-trichloroethane once at 0.6 ug/L, and cis-1,2-dichloroethene once at 1.3…"
      ],
      [
        "1997",
        "Ohio EPA leads a ground water investigation of the well field that identifies a source of VOC contamination south of the Ranney well, inside the one-year time of travel. Lawhan & Associates prepares…"
      ],
      [
        "after 1997",
        "ODOT initiates a cleanup project that removes the contaminated soil. Ohio EPA's bibliography also cites IT Corporation's 1999 'Final PCE Source Identification and Contaminant Delineation Technical…"
      ],
      [
        "2000-2024",
        "No detections of 1,1,1-trichloroethane; 7 detections of cis-1,2-dichloroethylene, all below 2 ug/L - a clear decline from the 1990s."
      ],
      [
        "2019",
        "Manganese detected once at 0.206 mg/L, above the 0.05 mg/L concentration of concern (an aesthetic secondary standard, not a health-based MCL)."
      ],
      [
        "2023",
        "A new 6 MGD water treatment plant, built with USDA financing on Guernsey Street in Bellaire and replacing a plant dating to the 1960s, is reported complete."
      ]
    ],
    "treat": "One radial collector ('Ranney') well north of Bellaire draws from a sand-and-gravel water-rich zone in the Ohio River Buried Valley aquifer system. Ohio EPA's 2024 assessment modeled it at 4,349,000 gallons/day (the average daily rate in Ohio EPA files plus 15%); the district's own 2025 plan says…",
    "press": "Not published. Neither the 2025 Drinking Water Source Protection Plan nor the 2025 CCR gives system pressures, pressure zones or tank elevations.",
    "rate": {
      "g": 7.69,
      "n": "Effective January 1, 2025: residential water minimum bill $26.92 with NO gallon allowance, plus $7.69 per 1,000 gallons; bulk users pay a flat $10.00 per 1,000 gallons. The $57.68…",
      "m": 57.68
    },
    "imp": [
      [
        "Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)",
        "44.4",
        "ppb",
        "80",
        "2025",
        "Highest running average; range of detections 33.2-44.4 ppb. No violation. Chlorination byproduct."
      ],
      [
        "Haloacetic acids (HAA5)",
        "23.7",
        "ppb",
        "60",
        "2025",
        "Range 17.1-23.7 ppb. No violation."
      ],
      [
        "Fluoride",
        "1.08",
        "ppm",
        "4",
        "2025",
        "Range 0.89-1.19 ppm; the district fluoridates."
      ],
      [
        "Lead (90th percentile)",
        "1.75",
        "ppb",
        "15 (action…",
        "2025",
        "First half of 2025: 90th percentile 1.75 ppb with no action-level exceedance, but 2 of 60 individual samples came back…"
      ],
      [
        "Nitrate",
        "0.555",
        "ppm",
        "10",
        "2025",
        "Well below the MCL."
      ],
      [
        "Manganese",
        "0.206",
        "mg/L",
        "0.05",
        "2019",
        "Single detection above the secondary/aesthetic concentration of concern, per Ohio EPA's source water assessment. Not a…"
      ],
      [
        "cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene (VOC)",
        "2.0-6.9",
        "ug/L",
        "70 (federal MCL)",
        "1990s",
        "Detected 11 times in 1990s sampling; well under the MCL but the trigger for Ohio EPA's 1997 wellfield investigation."
      ],
      [
        "cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene (VOC)",
        "<2",
        "ug/L",
        "70 (federal MCL)",
        "2000-202…",
        "7 detections since 2000, all below 2 ug/L."
      ],
      [
        "1,1,1-Trichloroethane (VOC)",
        "0.6",
        "ug/L",
        "200 (federal…",
        "1990s",
        "Detected once in the 1990s; not detected in any sample from 2000 through 2024."
      ],
      [
        "Combined radium 226/228",
        "0.668",
        "pCi/L",
        "5",
        "2020",
        "Radium 228 result; gross alpha was 0.112 pCi/L against a 15 pCi/L MCL."
      ]
    ],
    "proj": [
      [
        "New 6 MGD water treatment plant, Guernsey Street, Bellaire",
        27668200,
        "2023",
        "completed",
        "Construction cost from the district's own USDA project sheet, which showed it 15% complete when posted (2021). WTRF reported the finishing touches complete in…"
      ],
      [
        "Waterline Phase I - about 3 miles of new 24-inch and 16-inch main",
        3093950,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "USDA-funded. Listed at 55% complete on the district's project sheet (posted June 2021); no later status published."
      ],
      [
        "Waterline Phase II - about 4.4 miles of 24-inch main replacement",
        6650000,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "USDA-funded. Listed at 45% complete on the district's project sheet (posted June 2021)."
      ],
      [
        "Little McMahon Road pump station",
        1256552,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "USDA-funded; 15% complete when the project sheet was posted."
      ],
      [
        "Meter reading system",
        2282959.89,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "USDA-funded; 5% complete when the project sheet was posted."
      ],
      [
        "Service building addition (1,580 sq ft locker room, office, break room)",
        524000,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "Listed at 0% complete on the district's project sheet."
      ],
      [
        "Fox-Shannon wastewater plant upgrades",
        8158622,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "USDA sanitary sewer project; the sheet says construction was to begin May 24 (year not stated on the sheet, posted June 2021). Fox-Shannon is the district's…"
      ],
      [
        "Wastewater transmission system upgrade",
        549980,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "70% complete when the project sheet was posted."
      ]
    ],
    "plan": [
      [
        "Water district 10-year capital improvement plan",
        30000000,
        "",
        "planned",
        "About $30 million. Includes increasing well capacity with a 3 MGD vertical well, increasing plant capacity from 6 to 9 MGD, an additional 24-inch main from the…"
      ],
      [
        "Sewer district 10-year capital improvement plan",
        8000000,
        "",
        "planned",
        "About $8 million: replacing the Zinni, Arco, Montclair, Stop 32, Rustic, Boydsville, Stewarts, Stop 51, Days Inn, Stobbs Estates and Reicharts lift stations…"
      ],
      [
        "Periodic Source Water Protection Plan review",
        null,
        "2027",
        "planned",
        "The district commits to reviewing and updating the protection plan every 3 years, beginning November 1, 2027."
      ],
      [
        "Emergency water supply connection",
        null,
        "",
        "planned",
        "The contingency plan's response to a source-water shortage or contamination is to 'activate an existing emergency connection to another public water system or…"
      ]
    ],
    "stress": "Ohio EPA rates the source HIGH susceptibility to contamination, for five stated reasons: a relatively permeable layer of silty clay and fill overlying the aquifer; shallow aquifer depth (less than 20 feet below ground surface); past identification of VOC-contaminated soils within the one-year time of travel; significant potential…",
    "sew": {
      "s": "The Belmont County Water & Sewer District bills sanitary sewer alongside water (2025: $49.71 minimum plus $8.52 per 1,000 gallons, with the same automatic 2.5% annual escalator). The district's own capital sheets name the Fox-Shannon wastewater plant and a Pennwood package plant, plus a large inventory of lift stations (Zinni, Arco…",
      "st": "Not documented. The district's rate schedule contains no storm water charge and no storm sewer service is described in any source read."
    },
    "fun": [
      "The entire supply for 26,822 people served directly - 42,742 including satellite systems - comes from a single radial collector ('Ranney') well: one shaft with horizontal arms reaching out into the Ohio River's buried…",
      "The well that supplies 'Belmont County' water isn't in the district's St. Clairsville home base at all - the wellfield sits inside the Village of Bellaire, and Ohio EPA found the district's protection area overlaps…",
      "In the 1990s Ohio EPA traced industrial solvent contamination in the wellfield to a source just south of the Ranney well, and ODOT later excavated the contaminated soil.",
      "Water and sewer rates rise 2.5% automatically every year under the adopted rate schedule, rather than going back to the county commissioners for a fresh vote each time.",
      "The district replaced a water plant built in the 1960s with a new 6 MGD plant costing roughly $27.7 million - and its 10-year plan already contemplates pushing that to 9 MGD with a new 3 MGD vertical well."
    ],
    "src": {
      "history": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf",
        "https://www.wtrf.com/top-stories/finishing-touches-completed-on-belmont-county-water-treatment-plant/",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/USDA-Water-Sewer-Projects.pdf"
      ],
      "treatment": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/bcswd_ccr_2025_revised.pdf"
      ],
      "rates": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/rates/"
      ],
      "impurities": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/bcswd_ccr_2025_revised.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf"
      ],
      "projects": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/USDA-Water-Sewer-Projects.pdf",
        "https://www.wtrf.com/top-stories/finishing-touches-completed-on-belmont-county-water-treatment-plant/",
        "https://www.timesleaderonline.com/news/local-news/2023/10/water-and-sewer-work-underway-in-belmont-county/",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf"
      ],
      "planned": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/USDA-Water-Sewer-Projects.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf"
      ],
      "water_stress": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/bcswd_ccr_2025_revised.pdf"
      ],
      "sewer": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/rates/",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/USDA-Water-Sewer-Projects.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf"
      ],
      "fun_facts": [
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Drinking-Water-Source-Protection-Plan-2025.pdf",
        "https://belmontcountywater.com/rates/",
        "https://www.wtrf.com/top-stories/finishing-touches-completed-on-belmont-county-water-treatment-plant/"
      ]
    }
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  "photo": {
    "url": "/photos/OH0700412.jpg",
    "caption": "Downtown Bridgeport, Ohio, looking westward from the eastern end",
    "credit": "Nyttend",
    "license": "Public domain"
  },
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  "generated": "2026-09-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0 for the compilation; each source keeps its own terms",
  "cite": "Cracked Buckeye (Open Shower Co), \"Belmont Co. Sanitary District 3 · OH0700412\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH0700412/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].",
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