{ "type": "water", "pwsid": "OH5701012", "name": "Germantown City", "county": "Montgomery", "population": 5547, "producer": true, "source_class": "groundwater", "label": "Groundwater wells (4 wells)", "bodies": [], "intakes": [], "wells": 4, "aquifer": "", "notes": "", "urls": [], "chain": [ "OH5701012" ], "plants": [], "facts": { "hist": [ [ "1804", "Settled by German-speaking families from Berks County, Pennsylvania." ], [ "1814", "Philip Gunckel laid out the original town plan, including the distinctive wagon-wheel alley layout of the downtown." ], [ "1833", "Germantown incorporated; it operates as a city today." ], [ "1976", "The Gunckel Town Plan Historic District, with much of its 19th and early 20th century building stock intact, placed on the National Register of Historic Places." ], [ "1981", "Weaver Road water storage standpipe built — an upper tank of 270,000 gallons over a lower tank of 675,000 gallons, 945,000 gallons in all." ], [ "1997", "City developed a source water protection plan mapping Germantown's source water protection area." ] ], "treat": "Four production wells in Kercher Park, on the south side of the city, draw from sand-and-gravel units of the Great Miami (Buried Miami) Valley Aquifer System underlying Twin Creek. Depth to ground water in these wells is only 8.5 to 11 feet — that is the depth of the water table, not the depth of…", "press": "No psi figures are published, but Ohio EPA's 2020 Limited Environmental Review describes the distribution system as two pressure zones: an upper zone serving much of the city, now…", "rate": { "g": null, "n": "Germantown publishes no water or sewer rate schedule. The Utilities & Streets page carries only bill-pay links, utility application and termination forms, backflow test forms and…", "m": null }, "imp": [ [ "Nitrate", "3.29", "ppm", "10", "2025", "Single sample, no range reported. About a third of the limit; the source is flagged as susceptible to nitrate because…" ], [ "Fluoride", "1.14", "ppm", "4", "2025", "Range 0.38-1.33 ppm; naturally occurring plus water additive." ], [ "Barium", "0.097", "ppm", "2", "2024", "Range 0.097-0.097 ppm. Naturally occurring, well below the limit." ], [ "Total Chlorine", "0.63", "ppm", "4 (MRDL)", "2025", "Range 0.50-0.80 ppm; disinfectant residual." ], [ "Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM)", "9.1", "ppb", "80", "2025", "Range 1.8-9.1 ppb — about a ninth of the limit, typical of a groundwater source." ], [ "Lead", "0.80 (90th…", "ppb", "15 (Action…", "2025", "Zero of 20 samples exceeded the action level." ], [ "Copper", "0.132 (90th…", "ppm", "1.3 (Action…", "2025", "Zero of 20 samples exceeded the action level." ], [ "Chloroform", "3.4", "ppb", "unregulated", "2025", "Range 0.4-3.4 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no federal standard." ], [ "Bromodichloromethane", "2.8", "ppb", "unregulated", "2025", "Range 0.8-2.8 ppb; chlorination byproduct." ], [ "Dibromochloromethane", "2.3", "ppb", "unregulated", "2025", "Range 1.0-2.3 ppb; chlorination byproduct." ] ], "proj": [ [ "Water Tower and Telemetry (SCADA) Replacement", 2300000, "2020", "unknown", "Financed by an Ohio EPA Water Supply Revolving Loan Account loan (FS390387) at the 1% hardship interest rate over 30 years, saving the city roughly $672,000…" ], [ "Water Service Line Material Inventory", null, "2024", "completed", "Published under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and linked from both the 2025 water quality report and the Utilities & Streets page, alongside a public…" ] ], "plan": [], "stress": "Ohio EPA's 2003 susceptibility analysis rates Germantown's source as highly susceptible to contamination for four stated reasons: the shallowness of the water table (ground water stands only 8.5 to 11 feet down in the production wells), the lack of any low-permeability layer overlying the sand and gravel, numerous potential contaminant…", "sew": { "s": "The city's Water & Sanitary Sewer division, under the Director of Public Service, bills water and sewer together on a single utility bill that also carries trash and a separate 'sewer & water debt' charge. No wastewater treatment plant name, design capacity, receiving stream, or CSO/consent-decree status is published on the city's…", "st": "A separate Street & Storm Sewer division is listed among the city's departments. No stormwater utility fee, drainage plan, or documented flooding problem was found." }, "fun": [ "Germantown's four wells sit in Kercher Park, and the water table they tap stands only 8.5 to 11 feet below the ground surface — shallow enough that Ohio EPA lists the shallowness itself as a reason the supply is rated…", "In Ohio's 2023 statewide PFAS testing, none of the six PFAS compounds sampled were detected in Germantown's finished drinking water.", "The city's newest water tower was deliberately built smaller than the one it replaced — 500,000 gallons instead of 750,000 — because a taller column of water would have pushed pressure too high for downtown and the…", "The downtown alley layout, the Gunckel Town Plan laid out by founder Philip Gunckel in 1814, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.", "The Mudlick Distillery, established in Germantown in 1847, turned out 30 barrels of whiskey a day and was considered the largest in the country for many years." ], "src": { "history": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germantown,_Ohio", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf" ], "treatment": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf" ], "pressure": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf" ], "rates": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/utilities-streets", "https://germantown.oh.us/", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf" ], "impurities": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf" ], "projects": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/utilities-streets" ], "water_stress": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf" ], "sewer": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/utilities-streets", "https://germantown.oh.us/" ], "fun_facts": [ "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/2025-Drinking-Water-Report.pdf", "https://germantown.oh.us/assets/pdf/Water%20Tower%20July%202020.pdf", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germantown,_Ohio" ] } }, "zips_served": [ { "zip": "45327", "share": 0.59, "dominant": true } ], "photo": { "url": "/photos/OH5701012.jpg", "caption": "Montage of scenes from Germantown, Ohio, whose water comes from four groundwater wells", "credit": "J Flerchinger", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH5701012/", "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH5701012.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), \"Germantown City · OH5701012\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH5701012/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].", "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json" }