Oxford City

• Oxford's tap water is genuinely hard - 340 to 380 ppm - and the city has never softened it; the plant now being built will bring roughly 60% of the supply down to about 120 ppm.
• The utility serves more than 22,500 customers, far more than the year-round population, because Miami University is on the system.
• Oxford's wells sit in a federally designated Sole Source Aquifer, but the same shallowness that makes the aquifer productive is why the city's own report calls all of its sources highly susceptible to contamination.
• The city is a claimant in the 3M PFAS class-action settlement, with payouts continuing through 2036, and has already been promised reimbursement of the roughly $6,000 it spent on PFAS testing.
• Oxford pays the full cost of replacing the homeowner's side of a lead service line - the program FAQ answers 'Will I need to reimburse the City? No!'

Source: oxfreepress.comcityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.com

• early 1990sThe current Oxford Water Treatment Plant was built - with no water softening capability.
• 2024PFAS confirmed in multiple samples at the Seven Mile well field in May 2024 testing, none above regulatory limits; no consistent positive samples at the Four Mile Valley well field.
• 2024City proposes the largest capital improvement plan in its history, $76.44 million for FY2025-2029, headlined by $18.9 million of water treatment plant improvements to soften the water and remove PFAS…
• 2026June 2, 2026: City Council approved a contract with Building Crafts Inc. to construct the new treatment facility - $23,632,340 construction plus $1,167,660 contingency ($24.8 million).
• 2026March 30, 2026: second round of federal PFAS compliance sampling completed; only PFBS and PFOA detected, both far below limits.

Source: oxfreepress.comoxfreepress.comoxfreepress.com

How it is treated

All groundwater. Well fields north and east of the city (the Four Mile Valley and Seven Mile fields) draw from the Greater Miami Buried Valley Aquifer, a federally designated Sole Source Aquifer of glacial sand and gravel. The Water Treatment Plant, built in the early 1990s, chlorinates and…

Source: cityofoxford.orgcityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.com

Water pressure

Not published - no psi figure appears on the city's water treatment and distribution pages or in the 2025 Consumer Confidence Report.

Source: cityofoxford.orgcityofoxford.org

Not published online, confirmed on two city pages: the Utilities page says the city provides water, sewer and refuse service and gives only a phone number (513-524-5221), and the…

Source: cityofoxford.orgcityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.com

Source: cityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.com

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.4 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.

Recent and current work

• New membrane-softening Water Treatment Facility · $25 million · 2026- · planned
  Council approved the construction contract with Building Crafts Inc. on June 2, 2026: $23,632,340 construction plus $1,167,660 contingency. Adds membrane…
• Lead Service Line Replacement Program · ongoing · under construction
  Council-approved city funding pays for the property owner's portion of lead, galvanized or unknown-material service lines at no cost and with no reimbursement…

Source: oxfreepress.comcityofoxford.org

Planned or needed

• Biotower media replacement (wastewater treatment plant) · $5.7 million · FY2025 · planned
  Listed in the FY2025-2029 capital improvement plan.
• Water well revamping · FY2025 · planned
  In the capital improvement plan; may include installing an additional well. No cost published.
• Solar installations at the water treatment plant, Seven Mile Well Field and wastewater plant · unknown · proposed
  Under discussion; the water treatment plant site showed the highest lifetime savings, just over $580,000. No capital cost published.

Source: oxfreepress.com

Correction to the previous draft. The Greater Miami Buried Valley Aquifer is a federally designated Sole Source Aquifer and a high-yield source, but Oxford's own 2025 CCR states that all of its water sources 'have been determined to have a high susceptibility to contamination, largely due to the shallow depth of the aquifer and the lack…

Source: cityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.comoxfreepress.com

Sanitary

The city operates its own Wastewater Treatment Plant at 501 McKee Ave., treating about 2.25 million gallons per day collected through more than 65 miles of sewer pipe and discharging to Four Mile Creek under an NPDES permit. Design capacity is not published. The capital plan includes a $5.7 million biotower media replacement. No combined…

Storm

The city groups stormwater with its water and wastewater services but publishes no stormwater fee, program detail or flooding assessment in the pages reviewed.

Source: cityofoxford.orgoxfreepress.com

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