{ "type": "water", "pwsid": "OH8504512", "name": "Wooster City", "county": "Wayne", "population": 26618, "producer": true, "source_class": "groundwater", "label": "Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer (own wells)", "bodies": [], "intakes": [], "wells": 7, "aquifer": "Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer", "notes": "Wooster pumps 7 wells from the sand-and-gravel Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer beneath the city; has an Ohio EPA-endorsed Source Water Protection Plan.", "urls": [ "https://www.usgs.gov/publications/simulated-ground-water-flow-and-sources-water-killbuck-creek-valley-near-wooster-wayne", "https://www.woosteroh.com/water/source-water-protection-program" ], "chain": [ "OH8504512" ], "plants": [ { "n": "Wooster Water Treatment Plant - North Wellfield source", "a": "1020 Old Columbus Rd, Wooster, OH 44691", "la": 40.7835, "lo": -81.9445, "pt": "plant", "wb": "Killbuck Creek buried-valley (glacial outwash) aquifer", "src": "North Wellfield, a group of city groundwater wells in the buried glacial valley of Killbuck Creek north of the Wooster Water Treatment Plant; raw water is piped to the plant on Old Columbus Rd for lime-soda-ash softening and chlorination", "cls": "groundwater", "in": [ { "n": "North Wellfield", "wb": "Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer (sand and gravel glacial outwash filling a buried bedrock valley)", "role": "primary", "src": "City wells in the buried glacial valley of Killbuck Creek, north of the Wooster WTP; recharged by the creek and shallow groundwater (4 wells)", "la": 40.7835, "lo": -81.9445, "pt": "plant", "wells": [ "Wooster, City Of (Nwf) wells" ] }, { "n": "South Wellfield", "wb": "Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer (sand and gravel glacial outwash)", "role": "secondary", "src": "City wells (including S-1/S-2 designated wells) south of the WTP in the same buried valley; historically affected by VOC contamination requiring interceptor wells and air-stripping treatment (3 wells)", "la": 40.7818, "lo": -81.9432, "pt": "plant", "wells": [ "Well S", "Well 01", "Well 02", "Well 03" ] } ] }, { "n": "Wooster Water Treatment Plant - South Wellfield source", "a": "1020 Old Columbus Rd, Wooster, OH 44691", "la": 40.7818, "lo": -81.9432, "pt": "plant", "wb": "Killbuck Creek buried-valley (glacial outwash) aquifer", "src": "South Wellfield, a group of city groundwater wells (including wells designated S-1 and S-2) in the buried glacial valley south/behind the treatment plant on Old Columbus Rd; one former well behind the plant was retired after a VOC plume was found…", "cls": "groundwater" } ], "facts": { "hist": [ [ "1983", "Ohio EPA discovers volatile organic compounds in the raw water supply; the source is determined to be surface spillage migrating from a nearby industrial plant upgradient of the production well." ], [ "1985", "First interceptor well installed to capture contaminated ground water before it reaches the production wells." ], [ "1989", "Second interceptor well added." ], [ "1994", "USGS publishes Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4131, a ground-water flow model of the Killbuck Creek valley near Wooster." ], [ "1998", "The Wooster Water Production Facility at 1020 Old Columbus Road is commissioned." ], [ "2006", "Third interceptor well installed, continuing the pump-and-treat containment of the 1983 plume." ] ], "treat": "The Wooster Water Production Facility at 1020 Old Columbus Road was commissioned in 1998 and is an Ohio EPA Class III operation. Water is pumped from seven wells in two well fields (North and South) drawing on the sand-and-gravel buried valley aquifer under the confluence of the Upper Killbuck…", "press": "No pressures published. The city states it maintains and operates 8 elevated and ground storage tanks of varying sizes at strategic locations in the distribution system; no psi…", "rate": { "g": null, "n": "Current rates could not be verified: the City of Wooster's rates page advertises 'WATER RATES for CITY WEB PAGE-EFFECTIVE 2-1-2026' and a matching sewer schedule, but both links…", "m": null }, "imp": [ [ "Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)", "42.58", "ppb", "80", "2025", "Range of detections 29.8-57.4 ppb. No violation." ], [ "Haloacetic acids (HAA5)", "3.65", "ppb", "60", "2025", "Range 0-7.1 ppb." ], [ "Total chlorine", "1.08", "ppm", "4 (MRDL)", "2025", "Range 0.96-1.12 ppm." ], [ "Barium", "0.038", "ppm", "2", "2025", "Well below the MCL." ], [ "Xylene", "0.0007", "ppm", "10", "2021", "Range 0.00069-0.0007 ppm. The only VOC still showing in the detected-contaminants table." ], [ "Lead (90th percentile)", "1.89", "ppb", "15 (action…", "2025", "0 of 30 samples over the action level. The city reports no lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement or unknown-material…" ], [ "Copper (90th percentile)", "0.0317", "ppm", "1.3 (action…", "2025", "0 of 30 samples over the action level." ], [ "PFAS (six regulated compounds)", "non-detect", "ppt", "varies by…", "2025", "All four 2025 quarterly finished-water samples were non-detect for PFOA, PFOS, HFPO-DA, PFBS, PFHxS and PFNA - achieved…" ], [ "Hardness", "118.28", "mg/L", "no standard…", "2025", "Yearly average from the plant's own operational data; the plant softens." ], [ "Manganese", "0.025", "mg/L", "0.05 (secondary)", "2025", "Yearly average, below the aesthetic secondary standard. Iron averaged 0.04 mg/L against a 0.3 mg/L secondary standard." ] ], "proj": [ [ "Interceptor well system (three wells) and air stripping for the 1983 VOC plume", null, "1985-2006", "completed", "Wells installed 1985, 1989 and 2006; still running, treating about 253 million gallons a year of contaminated source water that is not used for drinking water." ], [ "Wells S-1 and S-2 removed from service for PFAS", null, "2024", "completed", "Taken offline in February 2024 after PFAS were detected in both wells and in finished water; finished water has been PFAS non-detect since." ], [ "Combined sewer separation program (15 projects)", 9276235.13, "", "completed", "The city reports 15 completed separation projects totaling $9,276,235.13 to improve storm and sewage conveyance and reduce combined sewer areas. Individual…" ], [ "Test wells and drilling of production well S-4", null, "2025", "under construction", "Test wells to site new production wells S-4 and S-5 in the south end of the South Wellfield are complete; drilling of S-4 is finished. No cost published." ] ], "plan": [ [ "Production well S-4 in service", null, "2026", "under construction", "Expected in service by late 2026 with a design capacity of 3.25 MGD, restoring supply lost when S-1 and S-2 were idled. No cost published." ], [ "Production well S-5", null, "", "planned", "Second replacement well in the south end of the South Wellfield; test drilling complete, no schedule or cost published." ], [ "Federal PFAS MCL compliance", null, "2027", "planned", "The April 2024 USEPA rule requires quarterly finished-water PFAS sampling and compliance with MCLs for six PFAS by 2027; the city notes the compliance date is…" ] ], "stress": "Wooster's ground water has high susceptibility to contamination, as the city itself states, evidenced by contamination in the South Wellfield. The wellhead protection area contains several industrial activities, underground storage tanks and abandoned landfills flagged as high-priority potential sources. VOCs have been detected in well…", "sew": { "s": "The city operates its own sanitary collection system and Water Resource Recovery function under the Utilities Division. Parts of Wooster are served by combined sewers and parts by separate sanitary sewers; the city is permitted to operate two combined sewer overflow structures during wet weather, and has completed 15 sewer separation…", "st": "The city runs a separate storm water utility with its own rate schedule (storm sewer rates effective 3-1-2026, billed monthly alongside water, sewer and trash) and a storm water maintenance function under Public Properties Maintenance. Rate amounts could not…" }, "fun": [ "Wooster's water comes from a buried glacial valley that USGS measured at about 3,000 feet wide and 100 feet deep, hidden under the modern creek bed and surrounding farmland.", "USGS's 1994 model of the valley found that of the water pumped from the aquifer, only about 8% is induced infiltration from Killbuck Creek - 63% arrives from the uplands and 23% from areal recharge in the valley. Total…", "For four decades the city has been pumping and treating contaminated ground water from a 1983 industrial spill - roughly 253 million gallons a year that never reaches a tap - through a chain of three interceptor wells…", "When PFAS turned up in two South Wellfield wells in 2023-24, Wooster simply switched them off in February 2024 rather than treat around them - and has reported non-detect finished water for all six regulated PFAS ever…", "Better lab equipment, not worse water, is what found the PFAS: minimum detection levels dropped from 10 parts per trillion in the 2020 sampling to 2 parts per trillion by 2023." ], "src": { "history": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/source_water_protection_program.php", "https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944131" ], "treatment": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/source_water_protection_program.php" ], "pressure": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/index.php" ], "rates": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/utilities/rates.php", "http://web.archive.org/web/20240712171613/https://www.woosteroh.com/sites/default/files/2023-04/2023_CityOfWooster_WaterRates.pdf" ], "impurities": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf" ], "projects": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/source_water_protection_program.php", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/combined_sewer_collection_system.php" ], "planned": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf" ], "water_stress": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf", "https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944131", "https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/1994/4131/report.pdf" ], "sewer": [ "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/combined_sewer_collection_system.php", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/sanitary_sewer_overflow.php", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/utilities/rates.php" ], "fun_facts": [ "https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944131", "https://www.woosteroh.com/departments/water/about/source_water_protection_program.php", "https://www.woosteroh.com/Documents/Departments/Water%20Production%20and%20Recovery/Water%20Quality%20Reports/2025_WoosterWaterCCR.pdf" ] } }, "zips_served": [ { "zip": "44691", "share": 0.6047, "dominant": true } ], "photo": null, "url": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH8504512/", "api": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/water/OH8504512.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), \"Wooster City · OH8504512\", https://crackedbuckeye.com/water/OH8504512/, built 2026-09-16, accessed [date].", "schema": "https://crackedbuckeye.com/api/schema.json" }