Water system
Middletown City
EPA ID OH0901712 · Butler County · 51,229 people served · owned by a local government
Middletown City treats its own water from Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells).
The system's record
- Aquifer
- Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer
- Active wells
- 14
- Serves
- 51,229 people · Butler County
- EPA ID
- OH0901712
About this area's water
Did you know
- Middletown's wells can produce up to 20 million gallons a day, but the plant delivers only about 8.3 million, leaving the system running well under its capacity.
- PFOS turned up at 4.32 parts per trillion in 2024 - just above the 4 ppt federal limit EPA set that same year, and still listed as 'unregulated' in the city's report.
- Ohio EPA rates Middletown's aquifer highly susceptible partly because the water table sits less than 15 feet down with no clay layer capping it.
- The plant softens its water with lime, a process that leaves the finished water noticeably less hard than the raw groundwater it starts from.
History3
- 2011US EPA and DOJ Clean Water Act consent decree: $55,000 penalty, $200,000 canal-sediment project, and a long-term control plan cutting overflows to six CSO events a year.
- 2024PFOS measured at 0.00432 ppb (4.32 ppt) in city water, marginally above the 4 ppt federal PFOS limit EPA finalized that year.
- 2025City issued its annual lead service line notifications on time but received an Ohio EPA Notice of Violation for filing the verification of those notices late.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Wells in the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer produce up to 20 MGD. Raw well water goes to the Columbia Avenue plant, where it is softened with lime, disinfected with chlorine, then filtered through dual-media filters; fluoride is added to prevent tooth decay.
Water pressure
not published; no citywide average psi figure or pressure-zone data found in city sources.
What it costs
We found no current per-unit water rate in city sources.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| PFOS Listed as unregulated in the CCR; 4.32 ppt sits just above EPA's 2024 PFOS limit. Range ND-0.00432. | 0.00432 ppb | 0.004 ppb (4… | 2024 |
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Well under the MCL. Range 17.5-19.8 ppb; no violation. | 19.8 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Very low for a disinfected supply. Range ND-2.9 ppb; no violation. | 2.9 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Nitrate About 8% of the MCL despite an agricultural buried-valley aquifer setting. | 0.82 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Barium Naturally occurring from erosion of deposits. Range 0.5675-0.885 ppm. | 0.665 ppm | 2 | 2023 |
| Radium 228 Naturally occurring; about a tenth of the MCL. | 0.537 pCi/L | 5 | 2023 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 30 sites above the action level. Range 0.221-3.27 ppb. | 1.12 ppb | 15 (action… | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 30 sites above the action level. Range 0.0022-0.0547 ppm. | 0.03155 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2025 |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.1 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).
Projects & plans2
Recent and current work
- Sewer system rehabilitation, WWTP upgrades and CSO controls under the 2011 Clean Water Act consent decree · 2011 · under construction
EPA states the decree work runs on a 25-year schedule, so it is ongoing rather than complete. - Lead service line inventory and public notification · 2025 · completed
Inventory published as a searchable ArcGIS map; annual service-line notices issued to customers in 2025.
Supply stress
The Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer is productive and not drought-vulnerable like a surface system, but Ohio EPA rates it highly susceptible: no protective clay layer, water less than 15 feet down, and past detections of human-made contaminants. PFOS at 4.32 ppt already edges over the new 4 ppt MCL.
Sewers
Sanitary
City-run plant rated 26 MGD and averaging about 14.5 MGD, discharging to the Great Miami River across roughly 342 miles of sewer with 8 combined sewer overflow outfalls; a 2011 US EPA/DOJ consent decree requires a long-term control plan cutting overflows to six events a year.
Storm
Partly combined system with 8 CSO outfalls to the Great Miami River, being addressed under the 2011 consent decree's long-term control plan. No separate stormwater utility fee was confirmed.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 2 ZIP codes
Serves
Main water supplier in 2 ZIP codes
- 45042 · Middletown67% of residents
- 45044 · Middletown58% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 45005 · Franklin Township and Franklin5% 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
Middletown City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Middletown City.
What the records show about Middletown City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Middletown City as owned by a local government. It has 24,230 service connections and serves 51,229 people.
EPA classes it as a community water system, one that serves the same residents all year.
Its office telephone on EPA's record is 513-425-7864.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Middletown City: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, fluoridation, lime softening, 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 Middletown City 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 Middletown City was 1.1 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
The highest result on file is 1.4 ppb, in the period ending December 2019.
EPA has 4 sampling periods on file for Middletown City 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 Middletown City sent EPA, 20,752 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 4,144 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 258 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 16,350 |
| All lines | 20,752 |
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
EPA's fifth national round of testing (UCMR 5) took 2 samples of the water entering the pipes of Middletown City in 2024 and measured 29 PFAS.
The highest PFOA or PFOS result, 4.3 ng/L, is at or above the federal limit of 4 ng/L that EPA set in 2024. Systems have until 2029 to comply, and in May 2026 EPA proposed letting systems apply for two more years. One sample over the limit is not a violation: compliance is judged on a running annual average.
The highest PFAS result was PFOS 4.3 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Middletown City (latest sample July 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | not detected | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | 4.3 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
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 Middletown City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 24.1 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 28.6 µg/L and the highest single sample was 29.5 µg/L, from 52 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 3 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 6.4 µg/L and the highest single sample was 7.2 µg/L, from 52 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 24.1 µg/L (2019) | 28.6 µg/L | 29.5 µg/L | 52 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 3 µg/L | 6.4 µg/L | 7.2 µg/L | 52 |
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 1.94 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2017; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.1 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 3 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 9 | 1.94 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 3 | 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 61.2 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 | 61.2 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, 7 of 5,339 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Middletown City tested positive (0.13%); in 2019, the last year on file, 1 of 656 did. E. coli was never found in the 5,362 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 Middletown City adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Middletown City.
Measured fluoride: 0.85 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2017 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.85 to 0.95 mg/L across 2 samples 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.
Lithium
Lithium was not detected in 2 UCMR 5 samples at Middletown City, last sampled in 2024 (the method reports from 9 µg/L).
Lithium is not regulated. EPA's draft health reference level is 10 µg/L, and it occurs naturally in deep groundwater, so well systems in the northwest run highest.
Source: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (final release, August 2026), samples from 2023 to 2025.
How well the service area is mapped
The service area drawn on the map for Middletown City comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 52,308 residents are inside the boundary, 102% of the 51,229 people Middletown City reports serving.
The resident count is an estimate from 2020 Census ZIP-code populations, not a count of customers.
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 — 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
EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH0901712 (EPA ECHO).
Middletown City's own pages: cityofmiddletown.org, oh-middletown.civicplus.com, data.epa.gov
