Water system
Bluffton Village
EPA ID OH0200112 · Allen County · 4,125 people served · owned by a local government
Bluffton Village buys its water from Ottawa Village.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Blanchard River
- Raw intakes
- Reservoir
Blanchard River - Serves
- 4,393 people · Putnam County
- EPA ID
- OH6900711
About this area's water
Did you know
- Bluffton stopped making its own drinking water: all seven village wells are listed inactive in EPA's federal inventory, the last five deactivated between 5 May and 3 June 2016, right after a two-and-a-half-year run of…
- The creek that runs through town is not the town's water. Riley Creek flows through Bluffton's 3.78 square miles, but the tap water is Blanchard River water treated by the Village of Ottawa and piped in.
- Bluffton's water is softened before it arrives - Ottawa's plant runs a lime-soda ash softening process, so the treatment decisions that shape Bluffton's tap water are made in another town's plant.
History3
- 2013-2016Ten consecutive quarterly total trihalomethane (TTHM) MCL violations recorded in EPA SDWIS, from the quarter ending 2013-12-31 through the quarter ending 2016-03-31, with reported values of 0.083 to…
- 2016SDWIS shows Bluffton's remaining village wells deactivated between 2016-05-05 and 2016-06-03 (Wells 1-5 and the North/South WTP wells; two earlier wells had gone inactive in 2009 and 2010), leaving…
- 2021Consumer confidence report published for Bluffton reports water purchased from the Village of Ottawa off the Blanchard River, a highest single turbidity reading of 0.14 NTU, full compliance with TOC…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Bluffton treats no water of its own. EPA SDWIS lists the system's primary source as purchased surface water through the facility 'CC OTTAWA VILLAGE', a permanent consecutive connection from the Village of Ottawa (PWSID OH6900711). Ottawa draws from the Blanchard River through a river intake plus an…
Source: data.epa.govdata.epa.govdata.epa.gov
Water pressure
Not published. No distribution pressure figure appears in any retrievable village document.
What it costs
We found no published rate schedule and no official Village of Bluffton website.
Water quality & impurities2
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turbidity Highest single reading reported in the Ottawa-treated water Bluffton buys; 100% of samples met the limit. | 0.14 NTU | Treatment… | 2021 |
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Historical. Highest quarterly value in the 2013-2016 MCL violation series, from the era when Bluffton still treated its… | 0.104 mg/L | 0.080 | 2015 |
Source: blufftonicon.comdata.epa.gov
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA health-based violations since 2015:
- 2016Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · above the legal limit on average · measured 0.083 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
- 2015Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · above the legal limit on average · measured 0.104 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
EPA's count of 5 includes 3 repeat quarterly violations of the problems listed.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 2 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
EPA compliance record · Ottawa Village (treats the water)
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA health-based violations since 2015:
- 2026Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · above the legal limit on average · measured 0.086 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · known
24 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 20 for required testing that was missed or reported late; 3 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records); 1 health-based.
Supply stress
Bluffton's supply is a single purchased connection with no active local source of its own - every village well is listed inactive in EPA's federal inventory. Bluffton's 2021 consumer confidence report describes the Blanchard River source as a surface water susceptible to contamination, with potential contaminant sources in the protection…
Source: blufftonicon.comdata.epa.gov
Sewers
Sanitary
Not published in any retrievable source. The village operates utility billing (SDWIS lists 1,505 service connections) but no sanitary sewer rate, plant description or NPDES detail was reachable without a working village website.
Storm
Not published in any retrievable source.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 1 ZIP code
Serves
Main water supplier in 1 ZIP code
- 45817 · Bluffton60% of residents
Population-weighted resident shares; a ZIP code can have more than one system on record. Recomputed from each ZIP's own system list, not from the map's cached footprint.
Buys from · Sells to
Bluffton Village buys its water from Ottawa Village.
No other system is on record buying water from Bluffton Village.
What the records show about Bluffton Village
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Bluffton Village as owned by a local government. It has 1,505 service connections and serves 4,125 people.
EPA classes it as a community water system, one that serves the same residents all year.
Its office telephone on EPA's record is 419-358-2066.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Bluffton Village buys water that Ottawa Village treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Ottawa Village: aeration, corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, lime softening, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
The list is what each system registered with EPA for treatment plants EPA still shows as active, and it can lag a plant upgrade.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) treatment table (EPA Envirofacts, pulled September 2026).
Violations
EPA counts 5 health-based violations for Bluffton Village since 2015. Health-based means a contaminant above its legal limit or a required treatment step not carried out. They fall into 2 separate problems (one contaminant or rule in one year); the table lists them all.
EPA logs a violation for each compliance period a problem lasts, so the count of 5 includes 3 repeat entries of the problems listed.
EPA logs 2 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
| Year | Contaminant or rule | Kind | Measured | Limit | Status in EPA's record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | above the legal limit on average | 0.083 mg/L | 0.08 mg/L | returned to compliance |
| 2015 | Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | above the legal limit on average | 0.104 mg/L | 0.08 mg/L | returned to compliance |
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) violation records: health-based violations with compliance periods beginning in 2015 or later, all violations from 2020 or later (EPA Envirofacts, pulled September 2026).
Lead and copper at the tap
In the sampling period ending December 2023, the 90th-percentile lead result at Bluffton Village was 0 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027. A result of 0 means at least nine in ten of the homes sampled had no lead detected.
EPA has 5 sampling periods on file for Bluffton Village since 2016, the first ending in 2017; no period was above 10 ppb.
Every water system has to inventory its service lines, the pipes from the main to each building. In the inventory Bluffton Village sent EPA, 1,485 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 1 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 89 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 1,395 |
| All lines | 1,485 |
Systems sample taps in the homes most likely to have lead pipes or solder. The 90th-percentile result is the level nine in ten of the sampled homes were at or below. Lead comes mostly from service lines and house plumbing, not the source water, so a low result for the system does not clear an old house.
EPA's dashboard status for this inventory: reported all required service line types.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) lead and copper 90th-percentile results (EPA Envirofacts), sampling periods ending 2016 or later; EPA's service line inventory dashboard, Ohio's 2026 Q2 submission.
PFAS
EPA's fifth national round of testing (UCMR 5) took 4 samples of the water entering the pipes of Bluffton Village in 2025 and measured 29 PFAS.
PFOA and PFOS were not detected, against a federal limit of 4 ng/L each.
The highest PFAS results were PFPeA 140 ng/L, PFHxA 55 ng/L, and PFBA 15 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Ottawa Village (latest sample September 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | not detected | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | not detected | 4 ng/L |
PFAS are the 'forever chemicals' from firefighting foam, plating shops and non-stick coatings. Results are for water leaving the plant, not your tap.
Source: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (final release, August 2026); Ohio EPA statewide PFAS sampling, 2019 to 2021, and its sampling status map.
Disinfection byproducts
Chlorine that disinfects water also reacts with organic matter to form byproducts. Two groups have federal limits: total trihalomethanes (TTHM, 80 µg/L) and five haloacetic acids (HAA5, 60 µg/L), judged on running yearly averages at each sampling site.
For TTHM, the average of Bluffton Village's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 33.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 121.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 168.8 µg/L, from 60 samples taken from 2012 to 2019. A yearly average over 80 is not itself a violation, because compliance is judged site by site.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 36.9 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 40.2 µg/L and the highest single sample was 62.1 µg/L, from 60 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 33.2 µg/L (2019) | 121.5 µg/L | 168.8 µg/L | 60 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 36.9 µg/L | 40.2 µg/L | 62.1 µg/L | 60 |
A yearly average of 0 means nothing was detected in that year's samples. EPA's file stops at 2019; Ohio EPA's Drinking Water Watch has newer results.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, distribution-system samples (non-detects counted as zero).
Nitrate, arsenic and radioactivity
The water Bluffton Village buys is treated by Ottawa Village, so the results below are Ottawa Village's.
Nitrate: the highest of 95 samples was 3.5 mg/L (as nitrogen), in 2019, the last year sampled. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 8 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 95 | 3.5 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
Measured in finished water: at the plant's entry points and in the distribution system; raw well and intake samples are left out. Non-detects count as zero.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Ottawa Village.
Solvents and fuels
The water Bluffton Village buys is treated by Ottawa Village, so the results below are Ottawa Village's.
EPA's file holds results for all six solvent and fuel compounds it checked. Benzene, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and vinyl chloride were not detected in 8 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
"Not detected" means the lab's result was below what its method can measure, not that the compound is absent. Non-detects count as zero in the highest-result column.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Ottawa Village.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Bluffton Village buys is treated by Ottawa Village, so the results below are Ottawa Village's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: atrazine in 12 of 24 samples, highest 3.1 µg/L (limit 3, 1 over); barium in 8 of 8 samples, highest 108 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: alachlor in 23 samples, chromium in 8 samples, cadmium in 8 samples, mercury in 8 samples, selenium in 8 samples, thallium in 8 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 24 | 12 of 24 | 3.1 µg/L | 1 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 23 | 0 of 23 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 8 | 8 of 8 | 108 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
Non-detects count as zero in the highest-result column.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Ottawa Village.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 567 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Bluffton Village tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 60 did.
A positive coliform test is a warning sign, not a violation by itself. E. coli is a sign that human or animal waste may have reached the water. Coliform counts are routine samples only; E. coli counts include repeat samples.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, distribution-system presence/absence tests for total coliform and E. coli.
Fluoride
The Ohio Department of Health's report to the CDC (My Water's Fluoride) says Bluffton Village buys its water from Ottawa Village, a system that adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Ottawa Village, which treats the water Bluffton Village buys.
Measured fluoride: 0.96 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Ottawa Village, which supplies Bluffton Village, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.91 to 1.2 mg/L across 8 samples in 2012 to 2019.
The recommended level for preventing tooth decay is 0.7 mg/L; the federal limit is 4 mg/L. The treatment list is what each system registered with EPA and can lag a plant upgrade.
Source: CDC My Water's Fluoride (fluoridation status as reported by the Ohio Department of Health, fetched September 2026); EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) treatment table; EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, entry-point fluoride samples.
Lithium
Lithium was found in 2 of 4 UCMR 5 samples at Bluffton Village, highest 11 µg/L; detections averaged 10.5, last sampled in 2025.
Lithium is not regulated. EPA's draft health reference level is 10 µg/L, and it occurs naturally in deep groundwater, so well systems in the northwest run highest.
Source: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (final release, August 2026), samples from 2023 to 2025.
Algal toxins
The water Bluffton Village buys is treated by Ottawa Village, so the results below are Ottawa Village's.
Ohio EPA tests for microcystin, a toxin that harmful algal blooms can release, in raw water at the intake and in treated water.
No microcystin was detected in the 339 raw-water samples.
In treated water, microcystin was detected 1 time; the highest result was 0.493 µg/L (September 2018), above the 0.3 µg/L level for children under six.
In all, 663 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 25, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 339 | 0 | not detected |
| Treated water | 324 | 1 | 0.493 µg/L |
The ten-day advisory levels for treated water are 0.3 µg/L for children under six and 1.6 µg/L for everyone else. Any detection at the intake triggers more frequent testing until two clean weeks.
Source: Ohio EPA public water system harmful algal bloom monitoring, 2016 to present (HAB data, fetched September 2026).
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of Bluffton Village with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 3,825 residents are inside the boundary, 93% of the 4,125 people Bluffton Village reports serving.
The resident count is an estimate from 2020 Census ZIP-code populations, not a count of customers.
Source: EPA Service Area Boundaries; resident estimate by this atlas from ZIP-code overlap.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 1 ZIP code in all.
Sources
U.S. EPA SDWIS and Community Water System Service Area Boundaries (v3, 2026), Ohio EPA primacy data, 2020 census blocks: the system serving most residents, traced through purchases to the treating utility; Ohio EPA 2023 Sewer and Water Rate Survey (Ohio State, May 2025) for household bills; Ohio EPA DEFA loan awards since 2016 for the loans paragraph · EPA SDWIS · EPA service area boundaries · Ohio EPA drinking water · Ohio EPA rate survey
EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH0200112 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov, en.wikipedia.org, data.epa.gov
History: data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov, blufftonicon.com
Water quality: blufftonicon.com, data.epa.gov
Treatment: data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov
Supply stress: blufftonicon.com, data.epa.gov
