Athens Co., the Plains S.d. 1

• Athens has drawn its drinking water from the same shallow Hocking River valley aquifer since 1894, and the current wellfield still sits near where the first well was sunk about 4,400 feet west of the courthouse.
• One wellfield serves the City of Athens, The Plains and surrounding rural customers, roughly 2.5 million gallons a day combined, up from about 1.3 million gallons a day in 1954.
• The Plains district buys every gallon it sells: no plant of its own, just a master meter from Athens, two storage tanks and pipe.
• Athens water is moderately hard, about 150 mg/L or 8.76 grains per gallon by the CCR's own FAQ, with the 2025 plant-tap average measured at 142 ppm.
• In 2025 the Athens water plant drew an Ohio EPA violation for missing the October 15 deadline to submit its certified operator staffing hours, with compliance restored October 28 and no health effect; the lesson the…

Source: ci.athens.oh.usdata.epa.gov

• 1894The City of Athens, which supplies this district, began relying on groundwater; its first well was about 4,400 feet west of the courthouse and about 2,000 feet north of the Hocking River, in the…
• 1954The Athens well system had expanded to supply about 1.3 million gallons a day.
• 1969After a 1968 flood, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed work rerouting and widening the Hocking River channel around Athens, moving the river hundreds of feet south along a 5.5-mile stretch.
• 2003Ohio EPA and the city's groundwater consultant investigated sporadic detections of volatile organic compounds in the well water and concluded the aquifer has a high susceptibility to contamination…
• 2023The Athens public water system participated in the fifth round of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5).
• 2025Athens abandoned and sealed Wells 22 and 23 with an Ohio EPA grant, began a project for a new production Well 24, added a baseline PFAS assay to its annual groundwater monitoring, installed three new…

Source: ci.athens.oh.usen.wikipedia.org

How it is treated

This district treats no water of its own. It buys finished water through a master-meter consecutive connection from the City of Athens public water system (PWSID OH0500212) and operates two storage tanks and its own distribution system. The Athens plant at 395 West State Street treats wellfield…

Source: data.epa.govdata.epa.govci.athens.oh.us

Water pressure

No normal operating pressure is published. The Athens CCR states only that Ohio EPA recommends a public water supplier issue a boil order any time distribution pressure falls…

Source: ci.athens.oh.us

Not published online. This is an Athens County district (contact 740-797-7146, office at Millfield), so its retail rates are set by Athens County rather than by the City of Athens…

Source: data.epa.gov

Source: ci.athens.oh.us

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2 ppb in 2024 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.

4 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 4 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

EPA compliance record · Athens (treats the water)

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2024 (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).

Recent and current work

• Abandonment and sealing of Wells 22 and 23 · 2025 · completed
  Wells no longer in use were sealed with an Ohio EPA grant award, to keep them from acting as conduits into the shallow aquifer. Cost not published.
• New production Well 24 · 2025 · under construction
  Project begun in 2025 to add wellfield capacity. Cost not published.
• Water plant window and door replacement · 2025 · completed
  Energy-efficiency work at the 395 West State Street treatment plant. Cost not published.
• Three new valves at Well 9 · 2025 · completed
  Valve assembly replacement carried out by water distribution staff with plant staff. Cost not published.

Source: ci.athens.oh.us

Planned or needed

• Abandonment of Well 6 · 2025 · planned
  Athens applied for and received a well abandonment grant from Ohio EPA to abandon Well 6; the CCR does not report the sealing as complete, unlike Wells 22 and…

Source: ci.athens.oh.us

The supplying aquifer carries an Ohio EPA-approved determination of high susceptibility to contamination, based on the lack of a protective clay layer, a depth of less than 20 feet below ground surface, significant potential contaminant sources inside the wellhead protection area, and manmade contaminants already found in the well water.…

Source: ci.athens.oh.usci.athens.oh.us

Sanitary

Not documented for this district. The Plains is unincorporated Athens County, so sanitary service is a county rather than a City of Athens responsibility, and no plant name, capacity, receiving stream or NPDES permit for The Plains was located.

Storm

Not documented for this district. The City of Athens runs an Ohio EPA-mandated MS4 storm program under Ordinance 0-52-11 and Title 5.07, required in June 2017, but the CCR states that permit regulates stormwater inside the city limits, which does not cover…

Source: ci.athens.oh.usdata.epa.gov

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