{ "type": "water", "pwsid": "OH2201411", "name": "Sandusky City", "county": "Erie", "population": 25793, "producer": true, "source_class": "erie", "label": "Lake Erie (Sandusky Bay backup intake)", "bodies": [ "Lake Erie", "Sandusky Bay" ], "intakes": [ "Sandusky Bay", "Lake Erie" ], "wells": 0, "aquifer": "", "notes": "Main intake is in Lake Erie; the Sandusky Bay intake serves as an emergency/backup source.", "urls": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf", "https://www.eriecounty.oh.gov/Downloads/2024PerkinsWaterQualityReport.pdf" ], "chain": [ "OH2201411" ], "plants": [ { "n": "Big Island Water Works", "a": "2425 First Street, Sandusky, OH 44870", "la": 41.4499, "lo": -82.672, "pt": "plant", "wb": "Lake Erie / Sandusky Bay", "src": "Lake Erie, drawn through a 42-inch gravity pipe about three-quarters of a mile offshore near Cedar Point Chaussee, with a Sandusky Bay intake used as backup", "cls": "erie", "in": [ { "n": "Lake Erie intake", "wb": "Lake Erie", "role": "primary", "src": "42-inch steel gravity intake pipe reaching about three-quarters of a mile off the Cedar Point Chaussee", "la": 41.472, "lo": -82.696, "pt": "approximate" }, { "n": "Sandusky Bay intake", "wb": "Sandusky Bay (Lake Erie)", "role": "emergency", "src": "Emergency-only intake in the bay, switched on when frazil ice chokes the lake pipe - three times in 2025 and again in January 2026", "la": 41.452, "lo": -82.674, "pt": "approximate" } ] } ], "facts": { "hist": [ [ "2011", "Big Island Water Works began testing finished water for algal toxins (microcystins) from Lake Erie harmful algal blooms; the treatment process has removed them every year since." ], [ "2023", "The plant's emergency-generator master control console failed in late 2023, prompting the city to prioritize an emergency-controls upgrade; during the equipment lead time staff manually tested…" ], [ "2024", "BIWW replaced the 20-year-old control panels on each emergency generator, and one frazil-ice event in mid-January forced a temporary switch to the emergency Sandusky Bay intake." ], [ "2024", "City Commission approved a seven-year water and sewer rate schedule (effective June 1, 2024) raising water rates 15% in 2024 and 2025 and 3% per year 2026-2030." ] ], "treat": "Surface water from Lake Erie enters through a 42-inch steel intake pipe located three-quarters of a mile off the Cedar Point Chaussee and is gravity-fed to the Big Island Water Works plant (2425 First Street). Treatment includes filtration (turbidity held to 0.19 NTU maximum in 2024, 100% of…", "press": "No psi figures or pressure zones are published. The 2024 CCR states only that city water mains are pressurized under normal conditions and that pressure is 'greatly reduced'…", "rate": { "g": 8.03, "n": "The city does not publish a per-1,000-gallon commodity rate. Its approved schedule gives the average single-family water bill (5 CCF = 500 cubic feet, about 3,740 gallons per…", "m": 30.03 }, "imp": [ [ "TTHM (Total Trihalomethanes)", "59.7", "ppb", "80 (MCL)", "2024", "Chlorination by-product; quarterly sampling, range 16.9-88.4 ppb. No violation." ], [ "HAA5 (Haloacetic Acids)", "24.3", "ppb", "60 (MCL)", "2024", "Chlorination by-product; quarterly sampling, range 7.2-33.2 ppb. No violation." ], [ "Lead (90th percentile)", "6", "ppb", "15 (action…", "2024", "From 30 tap samples collected June 20-28, 2024. Lowest result was <4 ppb (non-detect), highest single sample 13 ppb…" ], [ "Copper (90th percentile)", "42", "ppb", "1350 (action…", "2024", "Same 30-sample round as lead; 0 of 30 homes exceeded." ], [ "Nitrate", "1.9", "ppm", "10 (MCL)", "2024", "Monthly monitoring; range reported as 0.0-1.45 ppm in the CCR table." ], [ "Fluoride", "0.89", "ppm", "4 (MCL)", "2024", "Daily monitoring; range 0.7-1.03 ppm. Added to promote strong teeth." ], [ "Turbidity", "0.19", "NTU", "0.30 NTU in 95%…", "2024", "Highest recorded reading; range 0.01-0.19 NTU and 100% of monthly samples met the limit." ], [ "Barium", "0.016", "ppm", "2 (MCL)", "2024", "Range 0.016-0.016; erosion of natural deposits, drilling wastes, metal refineries." ], [ "Chlorine (residual)", "1.3", "ppm", "4 (MRDL)", "2024", "Continuous monitoring; range 1.03-1.45 ppm." ], [ "Total Organic Carbon (removal ratio)", "1.1", "ratio", "treatment…", "2024", "Monthly; range reported 1.1-2.0." ] ], "proj": [ [ "Emergency generator control panel replacement", null, "2024", "completed", "Replaced the 20-year-old control panels on each of the plant's emergency generators after the master control console failed in late 2023. No cost is published." ] ], "plan": [], "stress": "Lake Erie is a large, renewable surface source with no volumetric capacity constraint, but Ohio EPA treats all Ohio surface waters as susceptible to contamination because they are accessible and can be contaminated quickly, with short travel times from source to intake. Sandusky's own source-water assessment finds that even though the…", "sew": { "s": "Sanitary sewer service is run by the City of Sandusky's Water Pollution Control division (419.627.5907). Treatment plant capacity, receiving stream, and any consent decree or CSO long-term control plan were not published in the sources reviewed.", "st": "The city's source-water assessment lists combined sewer overflows among the contamination risks to its Lake Erie intake, indicating at least a partial combined sewer system. Sewer rates are held flat in 2024-2025 and rise 3% per year 2026-2030 under the…" }, "fun": [ "Despite the name, Big Island Water Works does not drink from Sandusky Bay: its primary intake is a 42-inch steel pipe three-quarters of a mile out into Lake Erie off the Cedar Point Chaussee, gravity-fed to the plant…", "The plant has tested for microcystins every year since 2011 — the same liver toxin from harmful algal blooms that shut down Toledo's water supply in 2014 — and reported non-detect results in 2024.", "In mid-January 2024 a frazil-ice event (slushy ice that forms in supercooled, turbulent water and can clog an intake) forced the plant to switch temporarily to its emergency Sandusky Bay intake.", "The 2024 report shows no treatment violations and a 90th-percentile lead result of 6 ppb, with the highest single tap sample at 13 ppb — none of the 30 homes tested reached the 15 ppb threshold.", "The report's author, Water Services Superintendent William R. Burch, was in his 23rd year of commercial water purification and holds a Class IV Ohio EPA water supply operator certification." ], "src": { "history": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf", "https://cityofsandusky.com/departments/finance/new_utility_rates.php" ], "treatment": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ], "pressure": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ], "rates": [ "https://cityofsandusky.com/departments/finance/new_utility_rates.php" ], "impurities": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ], "projects": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ], "water_stress": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ], "sewer": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf", "https://cityofsandusky.com/departments/finance/new_utility_rates.php" ], "fun_facts": [ "https://cms6.revize.com/revize/sandusky/Documents/Public%20Works/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2024%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf" ] } }, "zips_served": [ { "zip": "44870", "share": 0.5785, "dominant": true } ], "photo": { "url": "/photos/OH2201411.jpg", "caption": "Sandusky Bay, Ohio, viewed from Marblehead", "credit": "Mike Sharp - User: (WT-shared) 2old at wts wikivoyage", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH2201411/", "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH2201411.json", "generated": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY 4.0 for the compilation; each source keeps its own terms", "cite": "Cracked Buckeye (Open Shower Co), \"Sandusky City · OH2201411\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH2201411/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].", "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json" }