Lima City

• Lima draws no groundwater and buys no water. Every drop comes from five upground reservoirs that are pumped full from the Auglaize and Ottawa Rivers.
• Those five reservoirs hold roughly 14.3 billion gallons - enough to run the roughly 15-MGD plant for years without a drop of new river water.
• The 2014 Clean Water Act settlement runs 24 years and could top $147 million, more than doubling the sewage plant's wet-weather capacity from about 30 to 70 MGD.
• Lima's 2025 trihalomethane running annual average was 73 ppb against an 80 ppb limit, and one individual sample measured 80.6 ppb.

• 1918-1958Lima built its east-side upground reservoirs off the Ottawa River: Lost Creek (1918), Metzger Lake (1946) and Ferguson (1958).
• 1970Bresler Reservoir opened west of the city, fed from the Auglaize River, adding about 4.92 billion gallons of storage.
• 2012Williams Reservoir was completed next to Bresler, adding about 5.2 billion gallons and becoming the system's largest.
• 2014Lima signed a federal Clean Water Act consent decree over Ottawa River combined sewer overflows, with work that could exceed $147 million.
• 2026A January 2026 service line inventory listed 1,991 lead service lines and 2,221 of unknown material still in the system.

How it is treated

Reservoir water enters a 2.5-MG primary basin for clarification and softening, then 1.3-MG secondary basins; carbon dioxide stabilization and polyphosphate; ten rapid sand/anthracite filters plus four optional GAC filters; then chlorine, fluoride and polyphosphate.

Water pressure

Not published. The plant is rated about 15 MGD; storage is 4.4 MG of underground clearwells plus roughly 4 MG in five elevated tanks.

$5.03 per 1,000 gallons

2026 inside-city first tier $37.59 per 1,000 cu ft (~$5.03 per 1,000 gal) after a $21.38 monthly minimum covering 300 cu ft; top tier $26.33. Rises again Jan 2027.

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2026 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2024Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.087 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2022Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.086 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2016Total coliform · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance

2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 0 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• Ottawa River CSO control program (2014 consent decree) · $147 million · 2014- · under construction
  Raises wet-weather treatment capacity from about 30 to 70 MGD and adds a 13-million-gallon CSO storage tank.
• Williams Reservoir · 2012 · completed
  Upground reservoir on the Auglaize River next to Bresler; about 5.2 billion gallons, the system's largest.

Planned or needed

• Lead service line replacement · 2026 · needed
  The January 2026 inventory lists 1,991 lead lines plus 2,221 of unknown material; no funded replacement program was found.

Lima has no wells and buys no water, so five upground reservoirs are the entire supply and summer drawdown is the standing concern. Disinfection byproducts are the sharper problem: the 2025 TTHM running annual average was 73 of an 80 ppb MCL, with one sample at 80.6 ppb.

Sanitary

Lima's wastewater plant discharges to the Ottawa River under a 2014 federal consent decree covering combined and sanitary sewer overflows across seven basins over 24 years. It must reach 70 MGD peak wet-weather capacity and build a 13-million-gallon storage tank; Lima paid a $49,000 penalty.

Storm

Older parts of Lima are served by combined sewers, which the consent decree targets at five or fewer overflows in a typical year. The city publishes an annual Combined Sewer Overflow activity report.

Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.