Water system
Chauncey
EPA ID OH0500512 · Athens County · 1,428 people served
Chauncey treats its own water from Groundwater wells (2 wells).
The system's record
- Active wells
- 2
- Serves
- 1,428 people · Athens County
- EPA ID
- OH0500512
About this area's water
Did you know
- Chauncey's name is commonly pronounced 'CHAN-see,' and locals have long used the pronunciation as a marker of insider vs. outsider status in the area.
- Chauncey was named for Elihu Chauncey, a Philadelphia financier who partnered to buy the local salt-spring operation for $12,500 in 1838.
- The village's 127-acre Chauncey-Dover Community Park, on reclaimed former strip-mine land, anchors the Baileys Trail System; a separate 13.5-acre Sunday Creek wetland preserve nearby was established by the Athens…
History5
- 1838-39Village founded/platted after Elihu Chauncey, Nicholas Biddle and partners bought Resolved Fuller's salt-well farm for $12,500 in 1838 and laid out the town in 1839; named for Elihu Chauncey.
- 1838-1891Salt wells (concentrated on Bailey Run Rd.) drove the economy for over 50 years until a flood destroyed the last salt well in 1891.
- 1896-1952Deep coal mining became the dominant industry after investors recruited operator William Jones in 1896; New York Coal Co. ceased operations in Chauncey in 1952, citing economic conditions.
- 1932'Chauncey War': striking miners protesting wage cuts exploded the New York Central Railroad bridge near the New York Coal Co.'s Mine #25 on July 12, 1932; National Guard troops (peaking at 449) were…
- 2016The Athens Conservancy established a 13.5-acre wetland preserve and trail along Sunday Creek; the village's separate 127-acre Chauncey-Dover Community Park (on former strip-mined, USFS-transferred…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Village draws from two groundwater wells and treats and distributes its own supply.
Water pressure
Not published.
What it costs
$5.67 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $117 a month for water.
Confirmed directly from the Village of Chauncey's official 2026 rate schedule: in-village water is $33.20 for the first 2,000 gallons then $5.67/1,000 gallons; out-of-town water…
Water quality & impurities
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.2 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
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).
Supply stress
Village sits at the confluence of Sunday Creek and the Hocking River in a historic coal-mining watershed known for acid mine drainage in surface streams; the village itself relies on groundwater wells. Reclaimed strip-mined lowlands near the village were converted into the Chauncey-Dover Community Park and, in…
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Sewers
Sanitary
Village-operated sanitary sewer system; sewer service is limited to in-village Chauncey customers (out-of-town customers receive water only), per the village's rate schedule. Current sewer rate is $18.05 per 1,000 gallons, effective 1/1/2026.
Source: img1.wsimg.com
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
- 45719 · Chauncey99% 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
Chauncey does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Chauncey.
What the records show about Chauncey
Who runs it
EPA's record says Chauncey has 515 service connections and serves 1,428 people.
EPA classes it as a community water system, one that serves the same residents all year.
EPA's record says it has substantially implemented source water protection under Ohio's program, dating the program from 2025. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 740-797-2031.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Chauncey: corrosion control, chlorine disinfection, 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's record shows no health-based violations for Chauncey since 2015.
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).
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 2025, the 90th-percentile lead result at Chauncey was 1.2 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
EPA has 5 sampling periods on file for Chauncey since 2016, the first ending in 2016; 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 Chauncey sent EPA, 128 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 27 |
| Not lead | 101 |
| All lines | 128 |
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
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Chauncey (latest sample June 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
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 Chauncey's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 24.4 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 24.4 µg/L and the highest single sample was 27.1 µg/L, from 14 samples taken from 2013 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 0 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 7.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 9.6 µg/L, from 14 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 24.4 µg/L (2019) | 24.4 µg/L | 27.1 µg/L | 14 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 0 µg/L | 7.8 µg/L | 9.6 µg/L | 14 |
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
Nitrate: the highest of 9 samples was 3.37 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2018; in 2019, the last year sampled, nitrate was not detected. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 2 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 9 | 3.37 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 2 | 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.
Solvents and fuels
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 2 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | 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.
Farm chemicals and metals
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 2 of 2 samples, highest 49.5 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 2 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 2 | 2 of 2 | 49.5 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | 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.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 178 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Chauncey tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 24 did. E. coli was never found in the 32 samples tested for it.
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 Chauncey has fluoride from natural sources, but at a level below what is recommended for preventing tooth decay, and does not adjust it. The level it reports is 0.24 mg/L.
EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Chauncey.
Measured fluoride: none was detected in 2 samples at the plant's entry points 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.
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of Chauncey with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.
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 OH0500512 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: en.wikipedia.org, villageofchauncey.com
History: villageofchauncey.com, en.wikipedia.org, hmdb.org
Rates: villageofchauncey.com, img1.wsimg.com
Sewers: img1.wsimg.com
Supply stress: en.wikipedia.org
