Water system
Mount Orab Village
EPA ID OH0801011 · Brown County · 6,607 people served · owned by a local government
Mount Orab Village treats its own water from Sterling Run (reservoirs).
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Sterling Run, Mount Orab Old Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Mount Orab Reservoir
Mount Orab Sterling Run - Serves
- 6,607 people · Brown County
- EPA ID
- OH0801011
Village draws surface water from Sterling Run, impounded/stored in the Old Reservoir before treatment; matches SDWIS own_intakes naming both features.
About this area's water
Did you know
- Mt. Orab's water source is monitored by Ohio EPA right at the village's own intake: the Division of Surface Water station is literally named 'STERLING RUN @ MT ORAB WATER INTAKE', at river mile 6.47 in Brown County.
- The village does not drink Sterling Run continuously — it watches the creek's quality and simply stops pumping when farm chemicals rise, filling two upground reservoirs when the water is good.
- Half the year the tap water is not local: in 2025 Mt. Orab bought 31.145 million gallons from Brown County Rural Water Association across 182 days, and some numbers in its own quality table are that association's…
- A three-member Board of Public Affairs runs the water works, meeting at 9:00 a.m. on the first Monday of each month, and it oversees more than 150 miles of water line and 75 miles of sewer line.
- The village was platted in 1850 by Daniel Keether.
History5
- 1850Mount Orab laid out by Daniel Keether on September 3.
- 2005A granular activated carbon stage was added to the village water treatment plant in the fall of 2005, treating filtered water for removal of organic contaminants.
- 2024One of 20 lead samples came back at 18.9 ppb, above the 15 ppb action level, though the 90th-percentile value of 1.9 ppb kept the system in compliance.
- 2025Reporting violation: the village failed to demonstrate to the state that it had delivered the required annual lead service line inventory notifications to affected consumers by July 1, 2025. Public…
- 2025Mt. Orab bought 31.145 million gallons of water from Brown County Rural Water Association across 182 days of the year to supplement its own surface supply.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgmtoraboh.us
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
The village operates a surface water treatment plant at 116 W. Main St. Raw water is drawn from Sterling Run into two upground raw water reservoirs, then purified by conventional means using coagulation, settling and filtration; since the fall of 2005 the filtered water passes through granular…
Source: mtoraboh.usmtoraboh.us
Water pressure
not published — no distribution pressure figure appears in the village CCR, fee schedule or Board of Public Affairs pages.
What it costs
$7.18 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $35 a month for water.
Village fee schedule effective January 1, 2025. Inside the village: $20.50 minimum covering the first 2,000 gallons, $7.18 per 1,000 gallons for 2,001-5,000, and $6.66 per 1,000…
Source: mtoraboh.usmtoraboh.us
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 15.2-49.5 ppb. | 28.4 ppb | 80 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Range 7.4-29.4 ppb. | 13.5 ppb | 60 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Total chlorine Range 1.27-2.17 ppm. | 1.65 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Turbidity Highest single 2025 result was 0.582 NTU; the lowest monthly share of samples meeting the limit was 99.52%. Standard… | 0.582 NTU | treatment… | 2025 |
| Total organic carbon (TOC) Range 1.68-2.73; a ratio above 1 means the plant met its required TOC removal. | 1.79 removal… | treatment… | 2025 |
| Fluoride Range 0.37-1.20 ppm. Water purchased from Brown County Rural Water Association measured 1.00 ppm (range 0.77-1.10). | 1.20 ppm | 4 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Nitrate Range below detection to 1.02 ppm. Purchased Brown County water measured 1.41 ppm. | 1.02 ppm | 10 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Barium Purchased Brown County water measured 0.0065 ppm in 2023. | 0.0323 ppm | 2 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Cyanide, free | 1 ppb | 200 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Lead 90th-percentile value. 1 of 20 samples came back above the action level, at 18.9 ppb; the system remained in compliance… | 1.9 ppb | 15 (action… | 2024 |
Source: mtoraboh.us
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.9 ppb in 2024 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 2 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans1
Recent and current work
- Granular activated carbon treatment stage · 2005 · completed
Added in the fall of 2005 as an additional stage after filtration, to remove organic contaminants — a direct response to the agricultural pesticide and…
Source: mtoraboh.us
Supply stress
Real and documented, on both quality and quantity. Ohio EPA's source water assessment classifies the protection area around Sterling Run as highly susceptible to contamination, largely because of agricultural fields in the watershed; the CCR states that high levels of pesticides and herbicides commonly applied to those fields are found…
Source: mtoraboh.us
Sewers
Sanitary
Village-operated sanitary sewer, about 75 miles of sewer line, available only inside village limits — the fee schedule states plainly that no sewer service is provided outside the village. Residential rates effective January 1, 2025 are billed on water consumption: $24.50 minimum for the first 2,000 gallons, $11.03 per 1,000 gallons for…
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
- 45154 · Mount Orab56% of residents
Also present in 2 more ZIP codes
- 45176 · Williamsburg12% of residents
- 45106 · Tate Township and Bethel0% 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
Mount Orab Village does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Mount Orab Village.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 3 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
Mount Orab Village's own pages: waterqualitydata.us, ewg.org
Notable facts: waterqualitydata.us, mtoraboh.us, mtoraboh.us, en.wikipedia.org
History: en.wikipedia.org, mtoraboh.us
Water quality: mtoraboh.us
Capital projects: mtoraboh.us
Rates: mtoraboh.us, mtoraboh.us
Sewers: mtoraboh.us, mtoraboh.us, mtoraboh.us
Treatment: mtoraboh.us, mtoraboh.us
Supply stress: mtoraboh.us