{
  "type": "water",
  "pwsid": "OH4700711",
  "name": "Lorain City",
  "county": "Lorain",
  "population": 64152,
  "producer": true,
  "source_class": "erie",
  "label": "Lake Erie",
  "bodies": [
    "Lake Erie"
  ],
  "intakes": [
    "Lorain Lake Erie"
  ],
  "wells": 0,
  "aquifer": "",
  "notes": "Lorain City's own intake draws directly from Lake Erie; it also sells water on to Amherst and Sheffield Lake.",
  "urls": [
    "https://cityoflorain.org/DocumentCenter/View/5586/2023---City-of-Lorain---Water-Quality-Report",
    "https://www.cityoflorain.org/185/Water-Purification"
  ],
  "chain": [
    "OH4700711"
  ],
  "plants": [
    {
      "n": "Lorain Water Purification Plant",
      "a": "Lakefront site in Lorain, OH 44052 near the mouth of the Black River (exact street address not confirmed in sources…",
      "la": 41.474,
      "lo": -82.177,
      "pt": "intake",
      "wb": "Lake Erie",
      "src": "Lake Erie, drawn from an intake crib about 26.5 feet deep and 2,800 feet offshore outside the breakwall, west of the Black River harbor",
      "cls": "erie"
    }
  ],
  "facts": {
    "hist": [
      [
        "1884",
        "Lorain's first municipal water plant and distribution system began operating on untreated Black River water."
      ],
      [
        "1893",
        "A typhoid epidemic struck Lorain, attributed to the lack of filtration."
      ],
      [
        "1896",
        "A filtration plant was authorized; the city claims it as the first US plant built expressly to filter all of a city's water for bacteria."
      ],
      [
        "2010",
        "The plant began feeding orthophosphate for corrosion control to keep lead from leaching out of service lines."
      ]
    ],
    "treat": "Potassium permanganate at the Lake Erie intake for zebra mussels, debris screening, chlorine at plant entry, alum coagulation, flocculation with caustic soda and powdered carbon, sedimentation, then GAC/sand/gravel filters; fluoride, chlorine and orthophosphate last.",
    "press": "Not published in the sources found.",
    "rate": {
      "g": null,
      "n": "Not retrieved. The city's rates page returns 404 and neither water quality report lists rates, so no per-1,000-gallon figure could be confirmed.",
      "m": null
    },
    "imp": [
      [
        "TTHM (total trihalomethanes)",
        "51.4",
        "ppb",
        "80 ppb",
        "2024",
        "Range 20.1-62.4 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation."
      ],
      [
        "HAA5 (haloacetic acids)",
        "24.3",
        "ppb",
        "60 ppb",
        "2024",
        "Range 7-24.9 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation."
      ],
      [
        "Lead (90th percentile)",
        "ND",
        "ppb",
        "15 ppb (AL)",
        "2022",
        "Latest round. One site (LC235) hit 34 ppb, but 1 of 30 above the AL is not a violation."
      ],
      [
        "Copper (90th percentile)",
        "0.067",
        "ppm",
        "1.3 ppm (AL)",
        "2022",
        "0 of 30 sites exceeded the action level."
      ],
      [
        "Nitrate",
        "1.35",
        "ppm",
        "10 ppm",
        "2024",
        "Range ND-1.35; well below the limit."
      ],
      [
        "Fluoride",
        "1.01",
        "ppm",
        "4 ppm",
        "2024",
        "Range 0.6-1.14; dental-health additive plus natural erosion."
      ],
      [
        "Turbidity",
        "0.26",
        "NTU",
        "0.3 NTU in 95%…",
        "2024",
        "Highest single reading; 100% of monthly samples met the limit."
      ],
      [
        "E. coli",
        "1 positive of…",
        "n/a",
        "MCL not…",
        "2023",
        "All repeat samples were negative; not a violation. No such detection in the 2024 report."
      ]
    ],
    "proj": [
      [
        "Lead Service Line Replacement Program",
        2500000,
        "",
        "under construction",
        "Nearly $2.5 million in Ohio EPA principal forgiveness has funded removal of about 1,500 lead service lines to date."
      ]
    ],
    "plan": [],
    "stress": "Lake Erie supplies ample raw water with no quantity limit. The 2024 source water assessment names the nearby Black River, commercial shipping and boating spills, industrial and farm runoff, river dredging, urban stormwater, sewage discharges and combined sewer overflows as risks.",
    "sew": {
      "s": "Lorain Utilities runs water and sanitary sewer service, overseen by the city's Sewer and Water Advisory Board. The 2024 source water assessment names municipal and home sewage treatment discharges and combined sewer overflows in the Black River watershed as risks to the drinking water intake.",
      "st": "Not confirmed. Neither water quality report nor the city's water pages state how much of the system is separate versus combined, and no dedicated stormwater fee was found in the sources reviewed."
    },
    "fun": [
      "Lorain claims the first plant in the United States built expressly to filter all of a city's water for bacteria, authorized in 1896 after a deadly typhoid epidemic in 1893.",
      "Potassium permanganate is dosed right at the Lake Erie intake, not for people but to stop invasive zebra mussels from clogging it.",
      "Lorain has fed orthophosphate for corrosion control since 2010 and has pulled out about 1,500 lead service lines with nearly $2.5 million in Ohio EPA money.",
      "Lorain's emergency backups are Vermilion, Amherst and Sheffield Lake - all Lake Erie systems supplied by Elyria and Avon Lake. None sent Lorain any water in 2024."
    ]
  },
  "zips_served": [
    {
      "zip": "44053",
      "share": 0.9603,
      "dominant": true
    },
    {
      "zip": "44052",
      "share": 0.9453,
      "dominant": true
    },
    {
      "zip": "44055",
      "share": 0.8234,
      "dominant": true
    }
  ],
  "photo": {
    "url": "/photos/OH4700711.jpg",
    "caption": "The Black River running through downtown Lorain, Ohio, near where it meets Lake Erie",
    "credit": "Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant)",
    "license": "CC BY-SA 2.5"
  },
  "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH4700711/",
  "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH4700711.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), \"Lorain City · OH4700711\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH4700711/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].",
  "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json"
}