{ "type": "water", "pwsid": "OH5703512", "name": "Dayton Public Water System", "county": "Montgomery", "population": 141407, "producer": true, "source_class": "groundwater", "label": "Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (recharged by Great Miami & Mad Rivers)", "bodies": [ "Great Miami River", "Mad River" ], "intakes": [ "Dayton Miami", "Dayton Mad River" ], "wells": 105, "aquifer": "Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer", "notes": "Dayton draws groundwater via 105 wells in the Miami Wellfield and Mad River Wellfield (Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer), which are recharged by and hydraulically connected to the Great Miami and Mad Rivers.", "urls": [ "https://www.daytonohio.gov/1163/Buried-Valley-Aquifer", "https://www.daytonohio.gov/701/Great-Miami-Buried-Valley-Aquifer", "https://www.daytonohio.gov/377/Water-Supply-Treatment" ], "chain": [ "OH5703512" ], "plants": [ { "n": "Ottawa Water Treatment Plant (Mad River Well Field)", "a": "1044 Ottawa St, Dayton, OH (street address not independently verified)", "la": 39.7701, "lo": -84.1688, "pt": "approximate", "wb": "Mad River / Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer", "src": "Mad River Well Field wells along the Mad River east of Dayton, refilled by river water let into recharge lagoons", "cls": "groundwater", "in": [ { "n": "Mad River Well Field", "wb": "Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (semi-confined glacial sand-and-gravel outwash in a buried bedrock valley, in three zones separated by…", "role": "primary", "src": "About 63 wells along the Mad River, 29 of them at Rohrers Island, refilled by river water in recharge lagoons; feeds the 96 MGD Ottawa plant (63 wells · 30-182 ft)", "la": 39.7915, "lo": -84.1112, "pt": "wellfield" }, { "n": "Mad River recharge intakes 1 and 2 (Rohrers Island)", "wb": "Mad River", "role": "recharge", "src": "Two river diversions on Rohrers Island that let Mad River water spread through infiltration ditches and lagoons and soak back down to the wells - topping up the aquifer, not feeding the plant directly", "la": 39.7915, "lo": -84.1112, "pt": "approximate" } ] }, { "n": "Miami Water Treatment Plant (Miami Well Field)", "a": "3210 Chuck Wagner Ln, Dayton, OH", "la": 39.8079, "lo": -84.1733, "pt": "plant", "wb": "Great Miami River / Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer", "src": "Miami Well Field wells by the Great Miami River at Wagner Ford/Needmore Rd and Rip Rap Road Island, north Dayton", "cls": "groundwater", "in": [ { "n": "Miami Well Field (North and South)", "wb": "Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (semi-confined glacial sand-and-gravel outwash in a buried bedrock valley; recharged by Great Miami River…", "role": "primary", "src": "About 37 wells beside the Great Miami River in north Dayton, in two parts - Miami South and Miami North on Rip Rap Island; feeds the 96 MGD Miami plant (37 wells · 30-182 ft)", "la": 39.8079, "lo": -84.1733, "pt": "wellfield" }, { "n": "Miami River recharge intake", "wb": "Great Miami River", "role": "recharge", "src": "River diversion that routes Great Miami River flow into recharge lagoons replenishing the Miami Well Field aquifer; a second Rip Rap Road intake upstream was retired in June 2021", "la": 39.8079, "lo": -84.1733, "pt": "approximate" } ] } ], "facts": { "hist": [ [ "1869-1870", "Dayton voters approved a municipal waterworks in 1869; a Holly direct-pumping system began operating March 31, 1870." ], [ "1929", "Dayton's Division of Water Reclamation began continuous operation, treating sewage before discharge to the Great Miami River." ], [ "1988", "U.S. EPA designated the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer, Dayton's sole water source, a Sole Source Aquifer in May 1988." ], [ "2016", "In April 2016 Dayton took production wells near Tait's Hill out of service over PFAS suspected from the city's own Fire Training Center." ], [ "2021", "The city sued Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Pentagon over PFAS contamination of its groundwater." ] ], "treat": "Conventional lime (calcium oxide) softening, then pH adjustment with carbon dioxide, fluoridation, chlorine disinfection, and rapid sand filtration as the final step. A Lime Recovery Facility recalcines softening sludge from both plants back into usable lime.", "press": "Not published. Dayton runs 2 main and 11 booster pump stations and 16 storage facilities holding 88 million gallons, implying several zones, but no psi figure.", "rate": { "g": 5.97, "n": "Effective Jan 1, 2026: $44.67 per 1,000 cubic feet on the first block, which is $5.97/1,000 gal, plus an $18.60 monthly minimum for a 5/8-inch meter.", "m": null }, "imp": [ [ "PFOS (finished water, Ottawa plant)", "8.81", "ppt", "4", "2025", "Average of monthly finished-water samples; range 5.45-13.67 ppt, above the 4 ppt MCL." ], [ "PFHxS (finished water, Ottawa plant)", "13.53", "ppt", "10", "2025", "Range 6.70-23.32 ppt at Ottawa, above the 10 ppt MCL; Miami plant was below 2 ppt." ], [ "PFOA (finished water, Ottawa plant)", "2.97", "ppt", "4", "2025", "Range under 2.0 to 4.5 ppt; average below the MCL. Miami plant non-detect." ], [ "Lead (90th percentile)", "<3.0", "ppb", "15", "2023", "0 of 54 samples above the action level; lead was not detected in most samples." ], [ "Copper (90th percentile)", "0.044", "ppm", "1.3", "2023", "0 of 54 samples above the 1.3 ppm action level." ], [ "Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)", "28.83", "ppb", "80", "2025", "Highest running annual average in the distribution system; range 17.9-41.5 ppb." ], [ "Nitrate", "1.71", "ppm", "10", "2025", "Highest at the Miami plant; Ottawa reached 1.44 ppm. Well under the limit." ] ], "proj": [ [ "Lime Recovery Facility recalcination", null, "2021", "completed", "Reclaims lime from softening residuals at both plants; produced 36,533 tons of recovered lime in 2021." ], [ "Tait's Hill production well removal", null, "2016", "completed", "City proactively took wells near its Fire Training Center out of service over suspected PFAS contamination." ], [ "Renewable natural gas from digester biogas", null, "2024", "completed", "Since November 2024 biogas from the Water Reclamation Plant's anaerobic digesters is cleaned and injected into gas pipelines." ] ], "plan": [ [ "PFAS removal facility and treatment plant retrofit", null, "2024", "planned", "City estimates $300M-$500M for PFAS remediation and management; a reported ~$350M Shook contract could not be verified from a primary source." ], [ "PFAS treatment pilot and plant upgrades", null, "", "planned", "EPA pilot treatment project underway; part-funded by 0% Ohio EPA loans with principal forgiveness the city says will not raise water rates." ], [ "Wright-Patterson AFB remediation request", null, "2024", "proposed", "An October 2024 letter asked the base to remediate PFAS; the city had already sued the base and the Pentagon in 2021." ] ], "stress": "PFAS from firefighting foam is the binding constraint: Ottawa plant finished water averaged 8.81 ppt PFOS and 13.53 ppt PFHxS in 2025, over the 4 and 10 ppt MCLs. Quantity is not a concern - the aquifer holds over a trillion gallons and is river-recharged - but treatment will cost hundreds of millions.", "sew": { "s": "Dayton's Division of Water Reclamation has run continuously since 1929; the plant is rated 72 MGD and discharges to the Great Miami River at river mile 76.1, serving about 340,000 people including parts of Greene County and Wright-Patterson AFB. About 765 miles of sanitary sewer.", "st": "A separate MS4 storm system of over 400 miles of storm sewers, run by the city's Sewer Maintenance Bureau alongside 28 pumping stations. No stormwater utility fee was found published." }, "fun": [ "The Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer holds more than a trillion gallons and is the principal water source for an estimated 1.5 million people in southwest Ohio.", "Dayton recycles its own softening waste: a Lime Recovery Facility recalcines lime sludge from both plants back into usable lime, 36,533 tons of it in 2021.", "Each of Dayton's two plants is rated at 96 million gallons a day, yet the city pumped about 24.35 billion gallons in all of 2025, roughly a third of that capacity.", "Dayton's 1870 waterworks used a Holly system, an early direct-pumping fire-and-water design; it started up March 31, 1870, after voters approved it in 1869." ] }, "zips_served": [ { "zip": "45402", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45403", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45410", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45423", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45428", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45469", "share": 1.0, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45406", "share": 0.8624, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45405", "share": 0.6694, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45404", "share": 0.6658, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45417", "share": 0.6138, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45420", "share": 0.5924, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45409", "share": 0.5289, "dominant": true }, { "zip": "45432", "share": 0.2543, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45419", "share": 0.2031, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45315", "share": 0.1399, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45424", "share": 0.1399, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45414", "share": 0.1308, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45431", "share": 0.088, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45416", "share": 0.0045, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45439", "share": 0.0041, "dominant": false }, { "zip": "45322", "share": 0.0024, "dominant": false } ], "photo": { "url": "/photos/OH5703512.jpg", "caption": "Mouth of the Mad River at the Great Miami River in Dayton, Ohio, source of the Mad River Well Field aquifer recharge", "credit": "Antony-22", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH5703512/", "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH5703512.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), \"Dayton Public Water System · OH5703512\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH5703512/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].", "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json" }