{
  "type": "water",
  "pwsid": "OH4700411",
  "name": "Elyria Water Department",
  "county": "Lorain",
  "population": 68000,
  "producer": true,
  "source_class": "erie",
  "label": "Lake Erie",
  "bodies": [
    "Lake Erie"
  ],
  "intakes": [
    "Elyria Department Lake Eri"
  ],
  "wells": 0,
  "aquifer": "",
  "notes": "Elyria's intake and treatment plant sit on Lake Erie in Lorain; water is pumped about 8 miles to Elyria. Elyria also wholesales to Amherst and North Ridgeville.",
  "urls": [
    "https://www.cityofelyria.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ccr-2025-for-2024-sfj-May-13-USE.pdf",
    "https://www.cityofelyria.org/department/water-pumping/",
    "https://cityoflorain.org/DocumentCenter/View/5586/2023---City-of-Lorain---Water-Quality-Report"
  ],
  "chain": [
    "OH4700411"
  ],
  "plants": [
    {
      "n": "Elyria Regional Water Pumping Plant",
      "a": "Lakefront site in the City of Lorain, OH (near the Black River mouth; exact street address not confirmed in sources…",
      "la": 41.47,
      "lo": -82.178,
      "pt": "intake",
      "wb": "Lake Erie",
      "src": "Lake Erie, drawn through 24-inch and 42-inch intake pipes on the lake bottom about 1,500 feet offshore from Elyria's lakefront pumping plant, which is physically sited in Lorain",
      "cls": "erie"
    }
  ],
  "facts": {
    "hist": [
      [
        "1879",
        "Elyria's first waterworks pumped untreated West Branch Black River water straight into the distribution system."
      ],
      [
        "1898",
        "City leaders concluded the river water was unsafe after outbreaks of disease were traced back to it."
      ],
      [
        "1901-1903",
        "Elyria bought 6.4 acres on the Lorain lakefront for under $3,000 and began pumping Lake Erie water 8 miles south."
      ],
      [
        "1919-1922",
        "Bonds issued July 1919 built a modern 8-MGD plant; coagulation basin added May 1921, new low- and high-service pumps in 1922."
      ],
      [
        "2024",
        "The plant pumped over 4.48 billion gallons and served more than 120,000 people across several communities."
      ]
    ],
    "treat": "Conventional surface-water treatment - coagulation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination - at the plant at 3628 West Erie Ave, Lorain, fed by two Lake Erie intakes. Fluoride is added. Water is then pumped about 8 miles south to Elyria's five towers.",
    "press": "Not published. Pressure is held by five water towers and two remote pump stations on 230+ miles of main with 2,600 hydrants and 5,043 valves.",
    "rate": {
      "g": 6.2,
      "n": "2025 inside-city: $4.64 per hcf (~$6.20 per 1,000 gal) plus a $10.68/mo service charge; outside city $7.01 per hcf plus $16.14. Effective Jan 1, 2025.",
      "m": null
    },
    "imp": [
      [
        "TTHM (total trihalomethanes)",
        "52.175",
        "ppb",
        "80 ppb",
        "2024",
        "Range 13.9-70.7 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation."
      ],
      [
        "HAA5 (haloacetic acids)",
        "19.25",
        "ppb",
        "60 ppb",
        "2024",
        "Range 0.0-24.5 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation."
      ],
      [
        "Lead (90th percentile)",
        "1.07",
        "ppb",
        "15 ppb (AL)",
        "2024",
        "0 of 30 samples exceeded the action level."
      ],
      [
        "Copper (90th percentile)",
        "0.126",
        "ppm",
        "1.3 ppm (AL)",
        "2024",
        "0 of 30 samples exceeded the action level."
      ],
      [
        "Nitrate",
        "0.89",
        "ppm",
        "10 ppm",
        "2024",
        "Range <0.1-0.89; fertilizer runoff and septic leaching. Well below the limit."
      ],
      [
        "Fluoride",
        "0.97188",
        "ppm",
        "4 ppm",
        "2024",
        "Range 0.9172-0.9919; natural erosion plus dental-health additive."
      ],
      [
        "Turbidity",
        "0.22",
        "NTU",
        "0.3 NTU in 95%…",
        "2024",
        "CCR table shows a 0.22 NTU high; its text says 0.17. 100% of samples met the limit."
      ],
      [
        "Barium",
        "0.022",
        "ppm",
        "2 ppm",
        "2024",
        "Drilling and refinery discharge plus natural deposits; far below the MCL."
      ]
    ],
    "proj": [
      [
        "Lead service line replacement (Ohio EPA DWAF)",
        922062,
        "2021",
        "unknown",
        "Ohio EPA principal forgiveness covering 225+ households; work was to begin March 2021. No completion notice found."
      ]
    ],
    "plan": [
      [
        "EPA-mandated water and sewer upgrades",
        null,
        "2025",
        "needed",
        "The 2025 rate notice cites EPA-mandated Black River and Lake Erie projects plus aging infrastructure as the reason for the increases."
      ]
    ],
    "stress": "Lake Erie gives an essentially unlimited supply, so there is no drought stress. The 2024 CCR flags susceptibility from nearby Beaver Creek and Martin's Run, municipal wastewater discharges, air deposition, urban and farm runoff, leaking tanks, rail and vehicle spills, shipping and boating.",
    "sew": {
      "s": "The City of Elyria Wastewater Pollution Control Plant treats the city's sewage. Combined sewers remain in the oldest section, where designed emergency overflow points can release mostly rainwater plus some sewage to the Black River in heavy rain; the city says it is working to control them.",
      "st": "Elyria bills a separate stormwater utility charge alongside water, sewer and sanitation, with its own hotline and site (elyriastormwater.com). City ordinance 521.11 bans swimming in the Black River within city limits."
    },
    "fun": [
      "Elyria's water plant is not in Elyria - it sits at 3628 West Erie Ave in the City of Lorain, and the water is pumped about 8 miles south to reach Elyria taps.",
      "The plant has run continuously since 1902. In 2024 it pumped over 4.48 billion gallons and served more than 120,000 people across several communities.",
      "Emergency interconnections with Avon Lake and Lorain County Rural Water can move up to 8 million gallons a day in either direction. Neither was used in 2024.",
      "Elyria's meters capture a reading every hour and radio it to city collectors; a leak icon warns of a possible leak, and the display lights up only under a flashlight."
    ]
  },
  "zips_served": [
    {
      "zip": "44035",
      "share": 0.8077,
      "dominant": true
    }
  ],
  "photo": {
    "url": "/photos/OH4700411.jpg",
    "caption": "The Old Elyria Water Tower, a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places",
    "credit": "TnrSmith",
    "license": "CC BY-SA 3.0"
  },
  "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH4700411/",
  "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH4700411.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), \"Elyria Water Department · OH4700411\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH4700411/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].",
  "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json"
}