{
  "type": "water",
  "pwsid": "OH2504412",
  "name": "Columbus Public Water System",
  "county": "Franklin",
  "population": 1305946,
  "producer": true,
  "source_class": "river",
  "label": "Scioto River (Griggs & O'Shaughnessy), Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Ck, plus wells",
  "bodies": [
    "Scioto River",
    "Griggs Reservoir",
    "O'Shaughnessy Reservoir",
    "Hoover Reservoir",
    "Big Walnut Creek",
    "Alum Creek"
  ],
  "intakes": [
    "Dublin Rd Scioto River",
    "Hap Cremean Big Walnut",
    "Alum Creek Hoover, Hap Cremean",
    "Doutt Reservoir Scioto"
  ],
  "wells": 6,
  "aquifer": "Scioto River Valley sand and gravel (buried valley) aquifer",
  "notes": "Columbus draws from three water plants: Dublin Road (Scioto River via Griggs/O'Shaughnessy Reservoirs), Hap Cremean (Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Creek, supplemented by water pumped in from Alum Creek Reservoir), and the Parsons Avenue Water Plant, fed by the South Well Field in the Scioto River valley near Lockbourne, which serves the southeast side.",
  "urls": [
    "https://www.columbus.gov/Water-CCR",
    "https://www.columbus.gov/Services/Columbus-Water-Power/About-Columbus-Water-Power/The-Division-of-Water/Water-Facts",
    "https://www.columbus.gov/Services/Columbus-Water-Power/Information-for-Customers/Current-Consumer-Confidence-Report"
  ],
  "chain": [
    "OH2504412"
  ],
  "plants": [
    {
      "n": "Dublin Road Water Plant",
      "a": "940 Dublin Road, Columbus, OH 43215",
      "la": 39.9698,
      "lo": -83.0366,
      "pt": "plant",
      "wb": "Scioto River, supplied by releases from O'Shaughnessy and Griggs reservoirs",
      "src": "Scioto River intake at the plant on Dublin Rd, a few miles below Griggs Dam, opposite Marble Cliff",
      "cls": "river",
      "in": [
        {
          "n": "Dublin Road intake",
          "wb": "Scioto River",
          "role": "primary",
          "src": "Scioto River intake at the plant on Dublin Rd, a few miles below Griggs Dam, opposite Marble Cliff",
          "la": 39.9698,
          "lo": -83.0366,
          "pt": "intake"
        },
        {
          "n": "Griggs Reservoir",
          "wb": "Scioto River, impounded at Griggs Dam",
          "role": "storage",
          "src": "Scioto River pool behind Griggs Dam near Upper Arlington; water is released downstream to the Dublin Rd intake",
          "la": 40.016,
          "lo": -83.0939,
          "pt": "dam"
        },
        {
          "n": "O'Shaughnessy Reservoir",
          "wb": "Scioto River, impounded at O'Shaughnessy Dam",
          "role": "storage",
          "src": "6.3-billion-gallon Scioto pool ~10 mi above Griggs; drawn down first so Griggs stays full for boating",
          "la": 40.1539,
          "lo": -83.1258,
          "pt": "dam"
        },
        {
          "n": "John R. Doutt Upground Reservoir",
          "wb": "Off-stream reservoir filled by a Scioto River pump station",
          "role": "storage",
          "src": "9.2-billion-gallon walled reservoir in Delaware Co. filled from the Scioto and released back to it in droughts",
          "la": 40.3953,
          "lo": -83.2333,
          "pt": "approximate"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "n": "Hap Cremean Water Plant",
      "a": "4250 Morse Road, Columbus, OH 43230",
      "la": 40.0569,
      "lo": -82.8949,
      "pt": "plant",
      "wb": "Big Walnut Creek below Hoover Reservoir, with Alum Creek Reservoir pumped in as a backup supply",
      "src": "Big Walnut Creek at the plant's low-head dam and screen house on Morse Rd, below Hoover Dam",
      "cls": "reservoir",
      "in": [
        {
          "n": "Hap Cremean intake",
          "wb": "Big Walnut Creek",
          "role": "primary",
          "src": "Big Walnut Creek intake at the plant's low dam and screen house on Morse Rd, below Hoover Dam",
          "la": 40.0569,
          "lo": -82.8949,
          "pt": "intake"
        },
        {
          "n": "Hoover Reservoir",
          "wb": "Big Walnut Creek, impounded at Hoover Dam",
          "role": "storage",
          "src": "20.8-billion-gallon reservoir on Big Walnut Creek near Westerville; its releases feed the Morse Rd intake",
          "la": 40.1081,
          "lo": -82.8814,
          "pt": "dam"
        },
        {
          "n": "Alum Creek Reservoir transfer",
          "wb": "Alum Creek Lake, moved into Hoover Reservoir",
          "role": "backup",
          "src": "Backup link that can move Alum Creek Lake water into Hoover Reservoir in dry spells; exact point unpublished",
          "la": 40.1917,
          "lo": -82.9731,
          "pt": "approximate"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "n": "Parsons Avenue Water Plant (South Well Field)",
      "a": "5600 Parsons Avenue, Lockbourne (Hamilton Township), OH 43137",
      "la": 39.8445,
      "lo": -82.9868,
      "pt": "plant",
      "wb": "South Well Field: sand-and-gravel aquifer in the Scioto River valley, south Franklin County",
      "src": "South Well Field wells in Scioto valley sand and gravel, off Parsons Ave near Shadeville and Lockbourne",
      "cls": "groundwater",
      "in": [
        {
          "n": "South Well Field",
          "wb": "Sand-and-gravel aquifer, Scioto River valley",
          "role": "primary",
          "src": "6 active wells in Scioto valley sand and gravel off Parsons Ave near Shadeville and Lockbourne",
          "la": 39.8445,
          "lo": -82.9868,
          "pt": "wellfield"
        },
        {
          "n": "South Well Field",
          "wb": "Scioto River Valley buried-valley sand-and-gravel aquifer (permeable glacial outwash and ice-contact deposits with no protective clay cap…",
          "role": "secondary",
          "src": "Large radial collector wells in Scioto River gravels off Parsons Ave; the Parsons Ave plant serves southeast Columbus (6 wells · Not published; a USGS monitoring well…)",
          "la": 39.8445,
          "lo": -82.9868,
          "pt": "plant",
          "wells": [
            "Well 101",
            "Well 103",
            "Well 104",
            "Well 115",
            "Well 120",
            "Well 106"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "facts": {
    "hist": [
      [
        "1871",
        "Columbus's first water supply system, a well and pump station, is built at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers."
      ],
      [
        "1908",
        "Scioto River Purification Plant and Griggs Reservoir are completed; the plant was replaced in 1975 by the Dublin Road Water Plant."
      ],
      [
        "1953",
        "Hoover Reservoir is built on Big Walnut Creek (3,024 acres, 20.8 billion gal) per the city timeline; the dam was dedicated 1955 and opened 1958."
      ],
      [
        "1956",
        "Big Walnut Water Treatment Plant on Morse Road is completed; it was renamed the Hap Cremean Water Plant in 1988."
      ],
      [
        "2025",
        "Construction begins on the Home Road (fourth) Water Plant in Delaware County, on the site of the former Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility."
      ]
    ],
    "treat": "Screening, alum coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation, lime/soda-ash softening and second sedimentation, CO2 pH adjustment, ozone, biologically active GAC filters, UV, then chlorine, fluoride and a corrosion inhibitor. Parsons Ave. groundwater skips screening, ozone and UV.",
    "press": "Not published as a citywide average. Columbus maintains multiple pressure districts fed by elevated tanks and pump stations across a large multi-county service area.",
    "rate": {
      "g": 5.95,
      "n": "Effective Jan. 1, 2026, inside-city residential: $4.448/CCF first 5 CCF/mo, $4.932/CCF above, plus $12.45/mo service charge (5/8in meter). 1 CCF = 748 gal.",
      "m": null
    },
    "imp": [
      [
        "TTHM",
        "64.1",
        "ppb",
        "80",
        "2025",
        "Highest of the three plants (Hap Cremean); Dublin Road 58.4. Below MCL."
      ],
      [
        "HAA5",
        "37",
        "ppb",
        "60",
        "2025",
        "Highest of the three plants (Hap Cremean); Dublin Road 22.4. Below MCL."
      ],
      [
        "Nitrate",
        "6.3",
        "ppm",
        "10",
        "2025",
        "Dublin Road plant; seasonal Scioto River farm runoff. Anion exchange keeps it under the MCL."
      ],
      [
        "Bromate",
        "2",
        "ppb",
        "10",
        "2025",
        "Dublin Road ozonation byproduct; individual results ranged ND-13, annual average compliant."
      ],
      [
        "Atrazine",
        "0.2",
        "ppb",
        "3",
        "2025",
        "Dublin Road; agricultural herbicide runoff, range ND-0.84."
      ],
      [
        "Lead (90th percentile)",
        "1.3",
        "ppb",
        "15",
        "2023",
        "0 of 50 sites above the action level."
      ],
      [
        "Turbidity",
        "0.68",
        "NTU",
        "1 (TT)",
        "2025",
        "Highest 2025 result; 97-100% of monthly samples met the 0.3 NTU standard."
      ]
    ],
    "proj": [
      [
        "Hap Cremean and Dublin Road ozone / biologically active filtration",
        null,
        "",
        "completed",
        "Both surface plants now use ozone plus biologically active GAC filters and UV for taste, odor and byproduct control."
      ],
      [
        "Home Road (Fourth) Water Plant - construction start",
        null,
        "2025",
        "under construction",
        "Site work and early construction in Delaware County on the former Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility site."
      ],
      [
        "Lead Service Line Replacement Program",
        null,
        "2024-present",
        "under construction",
        "City program established in 2024 to remove all public and private lead and galvanized service lines."
      ],
      [
        "Blueprint Columbus",
        null,
        "2015-present",
        "under construction",
        "Ohio EPA approved Dec. 1, 2015; green infrastructure and lining to cut sanitary sewer overflows."
      ]
    ],
    "plan": [
      [
        "Home Road (Fourth) Water Treatment Plant",
        1600000000,
        "",
        "planned",
        "48 MGD initially, expandable to 80 MGD; billed as the city's largest water infrastructure investment."
      ]
    ],
    "stress": "Central Ohio's rapid growth is the driver behind the $1.6B fourth plant. The Scioto River sees seasonal nitrate spikes from farm runoff - 6.3 ppm at Dublin Road in 2025 against a 10 ppm MCL - so the plant runs anion exchange to strip nitrate. PFAS monitoring starts 2027, compliance 2029.",
    "sew": {
      "s": "The City of Columbus Division of Sewerage and Drainage runs two wastewater plants, Jackson Pike and Southerly, which together treated an average of 181 million gallons per day in 2023. Blueprint Columbus, approved by Ohio EPA on Dec. 1, 2015, is the city's Clean Water Act plan for cutting sanitary sewer overflows.",
      "st": "Older parts of Columbus have combined sanitary/storm sewers. Blueprint Columbus leans on green infrastructure, sewer lining and redirected downspouts to keep rain out of the sanitary system rather than building storage alone."
    },
    "fun": [
      "Hoover Reservoir is named for brothers Charles P. and Clarence B. Hoover for their careers with the Columbus waterworks - no relation to President Hoover or the Nevada dam.",
      "Columbus softens its water with lime and soda ash, a step most big Ohio surface-water systems skip, so the finished water is noticeably less hard than the raw river.",
      "The Dublin Road plant runs anion exchange, essentially a water softener for nitrate, to handle spring farm runoff in the Scioto River.",
      "The new Home Road plant will sit on the grounds of a shuttered juvenile correctional facility in Delaware County."
    ]
  },
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  ],
  "photo": {
    "url": "/photos/OH2504412.jpg",
    "caption": "Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Creek, a Columbus water supply source",
    "credit": "AddisWang",
    "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH2504412/",
  "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH2504412.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), \"Columbus Public Water System · OH2504412\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH2504412/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].",
  "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json"
}