Belmont Co. Sanitary District 3

• The entire supply for 26,822 people served directly - 42,742 including satellite systems - comes from a single radial collector ('Ranney') well: one shaft with horizontal arms reaching out into the Ohio River's buried…
• The well that supplies 'Belmont County' water isn't in the district's St. Clairsville home base at all - the wellfield sits inside the Village of Bellaire, and Ohio EPA found the district's protection area overlaps…
• In the 1990s Ohio EPA traced industrial solvent contamination in the wellfield to a source just south of the Ranney well, and ODOT later excavated the contaminated soil.
• Water and sewer rates rise 2.5% automatically every year under the adopted rate schedule, rather than going back to the county commissioners for a fresh vote each time.
• The district replaced a water plant built in the 1960s with a new 6 MGD plant costing roughly $27.7 million - and its 10-year plan already contemplates pushing that to 9 MGD with a new 3 MGD vertical well.

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.comwtrf.com

• 1990sOhio EPA sampling finds VOCs in the district's water on 13 occasions: cis-1,2-dichloroethylene 11 times at 2.0-6.9 ug/L, 1,1,1-trichloroethane once at 0.6 ug/L, and cis-1,2-dichloroethene once at 1.3…
• 1997Ohio EPA leads a ground water investigation of the well field that identifies a source of VOC contamination south of the Ranney well, inside the one-year time of travel. Lawhan & Associates prepares…
• after 1997ODOT initiates a cleanup project that removes the contaminated soil. Ohio EPA's bibliography also cites IT Corporation's 1999 'Final PCE Source Identification and Contaminant Delineation Technical…
• 2000-2024No detections of 1,1,1-trichloroethane; 7 detections of cis-1,2-dichloroethylene, all below 2 ug/L - a clear decline from the 1990s.
• 2019Manganese detected once at 0.206 mg/L, above the 0.05 mg/L concentration of concern (an aesthetic secondary standard, not a health-based MCL).
• 2023A new 6 MGD water treatment plant, built with USDA financing on Guernsey Street in Bellaire and replacing a plant dating to the 1960s, is reported complete.

Source: belmontcountywater.comwtrf.combelmontcountywater.com

How it is treated

One radial collector ('Ranney') well north of Bellaire draws from a sand-and-gravel water-rich zone in the Ohio River Buried Valley aquifer system. Ohio EPA's 2024 assessment modeled it at 4,349,000 gallons/day (the average daily rate in Ohio EPA files plus 15%); the district's own 2025 plan says…

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.com

Water pressure

Not published. Neither the 2025 Drinking Water Source Protection Plan nor the 2025 CCR gives system pressures, pressure zones or tank elevations.

$7.69 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $58 a month for water.

Effective January 1, 2025: residential water minimum bill $26.92 with NO gallon allowance, plus $7.69 per 1,000 gallons; bulk users pay a flat $10.00 per 1,000 gallons. The $57.68…

Source: belmontcountywater.com

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.com

EPA compliance record

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

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2024Lead and Copper Rule (lead) · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance

4 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 3 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• New 6 MGD water treatment plant, Guernsey Street, Bellaire · $28 million · 2023 · completed
  Construction cost from the district's own USDA project sheet, which showed it 15% complete when posted (2021). WTRF reported the finishing touches complete in…
• Waterline Phase I - about 3 miles of new 24-inch and 16-inch main · $3.1 million · 2021
  USDA-funded. Listed at 55% complete on the district's project sheet (posted June 2021); no later status published.
• Waterline Phase II - about 4.4 miles of 24-inch main replacement · $6.7 million · 2021
  USDA-funded. Listed at 45% complete on the district's project sheet (posted June 2021).
• Little McMahon Road pump station · $1.3 million · 2021
  USDA-funded; 15% complete when the project sheet was posted.
• Meter reading system · $2.3 million · 2021
  USDA-funded; 5% complete when the project sheet was posted.
• Service building addition (1,580 sq ft locker room, office, break room) · $524,000 · 2021
  Listed at 0% complete on the district's project sheet.
• Fox-Shannon wastewater plant upgrades · $8.2 million · 2021
  USDA sanitary sewer project; the sheet says construction was to begin May 24 (year not stated on the sheet, posted June 2021). Fox-Shannon is the district's…
• Wastewater transmission system upgrade · $549,980 · 2021
  70% complete when the project sheet was posted.

Source: belmontcountywater.comwtrf.comtimesleaderonline.com

Planned or needed

• Water district 10-year capital improvement plan · $30 million · planned
  About $30 million. Includes increasing well capacity with a 3 MGD vertical well, increasing plant capacity from 6 to 9 MGD, an additional 24-inch main from the…
• Sewer district 10-year capital improvement plan · $8 million · planned
  About $8 million: replacing the Zinni, Arco, Montclair, Stop 32, Rustic, Boydsville, Stewarts, Stop 51, Days Inn, Stobbs Estates and Reicharts lift stations…
• Periodic Source Water Protection Plan review · 2027 · planned
  The district commits to reviewing and updating the protection plan every 3 years, beginning November 1, 2027.
• Emergency water supply connection · planned
  The contingency plan's response to a source-water shortage or contamination is to 'activate an existing emergency connection to another public water system or…

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.com

Ohio EPA rates the source HIGH susceptibility to contamination, for five stated reasons: a relatively permeable layer of silty clay and fill overlying the aquifer; shallow aquifer depth (less than 20 feet below ground surface); past identification of VOC-contaminated soils within the one-year time of travel; significant potential…

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.com

Sanitary

The Belmont County Water & Sewer District bills sanitary sewer alongside water (2025: $49.71 minimum plus $8.52 per 1,000 gallons, with the same automatic 2.5% annual escalator). The district's own capital sheets name the Fox-Shannon wastewater plant and a Pennwood package plant, plus a large inventory of lift stations (Zinni, Arco…

Storm

Not documented. The district's rate schedule contains no storm water charge and no storm sewer service is described in any source read.

Source: belmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.combelmontcountywater.com

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