Water system
Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula
EPA ID OH0400711 · Ashtabula County · 32,342 people served
Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula treats its own water from Lake Erie.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Aqua Ohio Ashtabula Lake Eri
- Serves
- 32,342 people · Ashtabula County
- EPA ID
- OH0400711
Own intake directly from Lake Erie; no wells or purchased water listed.
About this area's water
Did you know
- The Ashtabula County Water System buys Aqua Ohio's treated water, and in 2023 also drew 2,192,388 gallons through a Lake County backup connection used about 365 days a year.
- Six PFAS compounds were sampled at the plant under Ohio's 2020 statewide initiative and none were detected in the finished drinking water.
- The city's wastewater plant discharges to Lake Erie after UV disinfection - the same lake the tap water comes from - and Ashtabula's sewers are all separate sanitary lines.
- The plant draws Lake Erie water through two separate intakes rather than a single one.
History5
- 1886Predecessor waterworks founded (per WaterZen profile); the system is now operated by Aqua Ohio, part of Essential Utilities.
- 2003Ohio EPA source water assessment found the Lake Erie source susceptible to wastewater and industrial discharges, runoff, spills and shipping.
- 2018Plant monitored source water for Cryptosporidium; detected in 1 of 9 raw-water samples and not detected in finished water.
- 2020Sampled under Ohio's statewide PFAS Drinking Water Sampling Initiative; six PFAS compounds tested, none detected in finished water.
- 2021Aqua Ohio Ashtabula maintained 'alternative TOC compliance' instead of meeting the standard total organic carbon removal ratio.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Conventional Lake Erie surface-water plant drawing from two lake intakes: filtration (turbidity monitored continuously), chlorine disinfection and fluoridation, with TOC removal for byproduct control under alternative TOC compliance. Coagulant details not published.
Water pressure
not published; no psi figure or pressure-zone description appears in Aqua Ohio or Ashtabula County materials reviewed
What it costs
Not found. Aqua Ohio is investor-owned and its rates are set in PUCO tariffs; no Ashtabula-division rate sheet was located.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Organic Carbon (removal ratio) Aqua's own table; range 0.60-1.19; on alternative TOC compliance, reported as no violation. | 0.60 ratio | 1.0 (TT) | 2023 |
| Turbidity Range 0.04-0.55 NTU; 99.8% of samples met the standard; no violation. | 0.55 NTU | 0.3 in 95% of… | 2023 |
| Fluoride Additive for dental health plus natural deposits; range 0.7-1.3 ppm. | 0.75 ppm | 4 | 2023 |
| Barium Naturally occurring and industrial discharge; well below the MCL. | 0.02 ppm | 2 | 2023 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Measured in the Ashtabula County distribution of Aqua's water; range 14.7-84.5 ppb. | 57.5 ppb | 80 | 2023 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) County distribution system sampling; range 10.6-42.3 ppb; no violation. | 34.7 ppb | 60 | 2023 |
| Total Chlorine (residual disinfectant) County distribution table; the report's violation cell reads '2' with no explanation. | 1.8 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2023 |
| Manganese (unregulated) UCMR4 entry-point result; range of detection 0.668-31.9 ppb. | 9.042 (avg) ppb | no federal limit | 2019 |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 3.1 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
1 violation of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Supply stress
Lake Erie's volume means little scarcity risk, but Ohio EPA's 2003 assessment rates the source susceptible to wastewater and industrial discharges, urban runoff, and rail, vehicle and shipping spills. Cryptosporidium appeared in 1 of 9 raw samples in 2018 monitoring, never in finished water.
Sewers
Sanitary
City of Ashtabula Wastewater Treatment Plant, 303 Woodland Ave., runs separately from Aqua Ohio: 12.0 MGD average design flow, 18 MGD peak, 24 MGD maximum hydraulic; grit removal, primary settling, phosphorus removal, activated sludge, UV disinfection, anaerobic digestion; discharges to Lake Erie.
Storm
The city reports only separate sanitary sewers, so no combined sewer overflows; no municipal stormwater utility or fee was documented in the sources reviewed.
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 3 ZIP codes
- 44004 · Ashtabula70% of residents
- 44068 · North Kingsville30% of residents
- 44048 · Kingsville Township and Kingsville14% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 44030 · Conneaut3% 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
Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
3 systems on record buy water from Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula: Aqua Ohio - Village of Jefferson, Ashtabula County Water System, Geneva City.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 4 ZIP codes 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
Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula's own pages: waterzen.com, ashtabulacounty.us