Christi Water System Inc

• The 350-million-gallon upground reservoir can keep Defiance supplied for up to about 90 days even if Maumee River pumping stops entirely - and in 2024 the city only pumped from the river on 236 of 365 days.
• The reservoir doubles as a maintenance workaround: crews can service the river intake structures, equipment, and pumps without interrupting water production.
• Sodium permanganate goes in before coagulation even begins, specifically to strip organics and head off taste-and-odor complaints from Maumee River algae.
• Defiance's water rate is quoted per 1,000 cubic feet, not per gallon - $61.71 per 1,000 cubic feet works out to $8.25 per 1,000 gallons, and the sewer rate is published on a different unit again ($5.54 per 100 cubic…
• Defiance is not just its own customer: the plant wholesales Maumee River water to the Ayersville Water and Sewer District, the Brunersburg Water District, and the Lake Christy Meadows Water Utility.

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

• 1956City completed an interceptor sewer and primary wastewater treatment plant at a cost of more than $2 million, responding to pollution of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers from combined sewers built in…
• 1969Wastewater plant expanded from primary to secondary treatment, with new sanitary sewers built in underserved areas to relieve system overloading.
• 1989Renovation of 20-to-30-year-old process equipment completed at a cost of $11,711,000, allowing the plant to meet stricter discharge requirements.
• 1998Wastewater plant capacity increased from 4.0 MGD to 6.0 MGD, adding biological ammonia-nitrogen removal in the aeration tanks and allowing sewer service to be extended to the Village of Ayersville…
• 2008City completed a 74-acre, roughly 350-million-gallon upground reservoir (average depth 18 feet) fed from the Maumee River, acting as a pretreatment basin and an isolated supply during river…
• 2020City of Defiance and Ohio EPA signed a legal agreement to reduce the frequency and volume of combined sewer overflows; the resulting long-term control plan went to public hearing under the…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

How it is treated

Maumee River water is drawn through river intakes and pumped to the city's 74-acre upground reservoir, which settles solids and buffers raw-water quality, then flows back to the Class IV plant. Treatment uses sodium permanganate for organics removal and taste-and-odor control, ferric chloride…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

Water pressure

No distribution pressure figure is published. The system relies on two one-million-gallon elevated water towers (2 million gallons combined) feeding 133 miles of waterline (the…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

$8.25 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $57 a month for water.

City of Defiance 2026 metered water rate is $61.71 per 1,000 cubic feet. Since 1,000 cubic feet = 7,480 gallons, that is $8.25 per 1,000 gallons. On top of usage, a monthly…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

Source: cityofdefiance.com

EPA compliance record · Christi Water System Inc

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2022Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.087 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2021Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.083 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance

EPA's count of 3 includes 1 repeat quarterly violation of the problems listed.

4 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

EPA compliance record · Defiance City (treats the water)

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.5 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2022Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.105 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2021Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.106 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2020Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.091 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2019Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.094 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2018Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.094 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2018Lead and Copper Rule · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance
• 2017Lead and Copper Rule · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance
• 2017Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.09 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance

EPA's count of 22 includes 14 repeat quarterly violations of the problems listed.

12 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• Wastewater plant upgrade (headworks, septage receiving, bar screens) · $4.8 million · 2025 · proposed
  Largest item in the roughly $7.8 million 2025 water/sewer capital plan previewed to city council in October 2024; funded from water and sewer user charges.…
• Domersville Road water line replacement · $1.6 million · 2025 · proposed
  From the 2025 water/sewer capital improvement plan presented to council.
• Sewer lining and repairs, including Pleasant St. and Greenhouse Ave. septic-to-sewer conversion · $350,000 · 2025 · proposed
  From the 2025 water/sewer capital improvement plan presented to council.
• Water plant lime feed improvements · $125,000 · 2025 · proposed
  Required by Ohio EPA; supports the plant's lime softening step.
• Water plant clarifier repainting · $100,000 · 2025 · proposed
  From the 2025 water/sewer capital improvement plan.
• Miscellaneous waterline replacement · $100,000 · 2025 · proposed
  From the 2025 water/sewer capital improvement plan.
• Water plant carbonic system · $75,000 · 2025 · proposed
  Supports the recarbonation/pH adjustment step.

Source: crescent-news.com

Planned or needed

• Combined sewer overflow Long Term Control Plan · planned
  Required by the 2020 legal agreement between the city and Ohio EPA; the proposed plan includes projects at the wastewater treatment plant and in the collection…
• Ottawa Avenue Corridor Improvements - Phase 2 · 2026 · under construction
  Reconstruction of a portion of Ottawa Avenue including drainage improvements, sidewalks, curbs, and multi-use paths. No cost is published on the city projects…

Source: dam.assets.ohio.govcityofdefiance.com

The Maumee River source is highly exposed: Ohio EPA's source water assessment treats all surface water as susceptible, and Defiance's protection area is specifically susceptible to agricultural runoff (animal feedlots, pesticide and fertilizer storage and application), industrial and commercial sources, junkyards, above-ground storage…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.com

Sanitary

City-owned wastewater treatment plant, 6.0 MGD since the 1998-2000 upgrade with biological ammonia-nitrogen removal, discharging to the Maumee River; serves Defiance plus extended service to the Village of Ayersville via an interceptor sewer system dating to 1956. Much of the collection system is COMBINED (sanitary plus stormwater), a…

Storm

Where separate storm sewers exist, the city holds an Ohio EPA NPDES Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit and follows a Stormwater Management Plan. No dedicated stormwater utility or monthly stormwater fee was found in the sources reviewed…

Source: cityofdefiance.comcityofdefiance.comdam.assets.ohio.gov

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