Water system
Erie Co. Margaretta District
EPA ID OH2200203 · Erie County · 5,131 people served · owned by a local government
Erie Co. Margaretta District buys its water from Sandusky City.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie, Sandusky Bay
- Raw intakes
- Sandusky Bay
Lake Erie - Serves
- 25,793 people · Erie County
- EPA ID
- OH2201411
Main intake is in Lake Erie; the Sandusky Bay intake serves as an emergency/backup source.
About this area's water
Did you know
- Margaretta's water is bought, not made: Erie County buys every gallon it sells, from Sandusky, Huron, Vermilion and the Northern Ohio Rural Water Authority, and Lake Erie is the only source behind all of them.
- In 2025 the district tested quarterly for lithium and six 'forever chemicals' under the federal UCMR5 program and every single result came back non-detect.
- Castalia, the village at the heart of the district, is named after a spring in Greek mythology — and sits beside a real one, the Blue Hole, a 43-to-45-foot-deep karst spring that discharges about 7 million gallons a day…
- Erie County will sell you water by the coin: county-owned penstock dispensers charge 25 cents for every 12 gallons.
History5
- 1836Castalia was laid out; the village takes its name from Castalia of Greek mythology.
- late 1990sThe Castalia Blue Hole, a karst spring that drew up to 165,000 visitors a year at its peak, closed to the public as a tourist attraction.
- 2024Erie County's current water and sewer rate schedules take effect with bills due on or about June 17, 2024 (District A minimum $19.25 for a 5/8" or 3/4" meter; $4.97 per CCF thereafter).
- 2026Jan. 19-21: extreme cold and sustained west/southwest winds restricted raw water reaching Sandusky's Big Island Water Works — ice affected the primary Lake Erie intake and wind pushed water away from…
- 2025The Margaretta District took part in the fifth round of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5), testing quarterly for lithium and six regulated PFAS; all results were non-detections.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Margaretta treats no water of its own. The Erie County Water Division buys fully treated Lake Erie water from the City of Sandusky and distributes it. Sandusky's Big Island Water Works draws surface water from two intakes: a main intake offshore in Lake Erie and an emergency backup intake in…
Source: eriecounty.oh.goveriecounty.oh.govspectrumnews1.com
Water pressure
Not published. Neither Erie County nor the City of Sandusky publishes distribution pressures for the Margaretta district, and no psi figure could be substantiated.
What it costs
$6.64 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $43 a month for water.
Erie County Water District A (the general schedule), effective with bills due on or about June 17, 2024: the first 0-2 CCF (0-200 cubic feet) is covered by a minimum charge set by…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 13-58.7 ppb, sampled quarterly; by-product of chlorination. No violation. | 49.45 ppb | 80 ppb (MCL) | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Range 9.6-56.7 ppb, sampled quarterly; by-product of chlorination. No violation. | 31.13 ppb | 60 ppb (MCL) | 2025 |
| Nitrate Monthly sampling; the CCR prints the range as 0.0-1.45 ppm, which is inconsistent with the level found. Well below the… | 1.6 ppm | 10 ppm (MCL) | 2025 |
| Fluoride Range 0.8-1.13 ppm, monitored daily; added by Sandusky to promote strong teeth. | 0.9 ppm | 4 ppm (MCL) | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 20 homes sampled; none exceeded the 15 ppb action level for an individual tap. | 2.2 ppb | 15 ppb (AL) | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 20 homes sampled; none exceeded the action level. | 0.09 ppm | 1.3 ppm (AL) | 2025 |
| Barium Range 0.018-0.018 ppm; erosion of natural deposits. | 0.018 ppm | 2 ppm (MCL) | 2025 |
| Free chlorine Range 0.8-1.8 ppm, monitored continuously. | 1.5 ppm | 4 ppm (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Turbidity Range 0.01-0.14 NTU; 100% of samples met the standard. | 0.14 NTU | 0.3 NTU (TT) | 2025 |
| Manganese Range 0-0.02 ppb; listed as an unregulated contaminant. | 0.0108 ppb | 50 ppb (SMCL… | 2025 |
Source: eriecounty.oh.gov
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.2 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
5 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 5 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
EPA compliance record · Sandusky City (treats the water)
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 5 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
1 violation of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans1
Recent and current work
- Sandusky intake emergency response, January 2026 · 2026 · completed
Sandusky water plant staff, the Sandusky Fire Department and Public Works crews worked around the clock Jan. 19-21, 2026 to restore raw water flow to the Big…
Source: spectrumnews1.com13abc.com
Supply stress
Moderate and entirely borrowed. The district owns no source: all of its water is purchased treated Lake Erie water from Sandusky, whose two intakes both proved vulnerable in January 2026 — ice at the primary offshore intake and wind-driven drawdown at the Sandusky Bay backup, which together forced a two-day non-essential-use advisory for…
Sewers
Sanitary
Erie County's Department of Environmental Services (554 River Road, Huron; billing at 2900 Columbus Ave., Sandusky) runs the sanitary system, with a Wastewater Collection Division and a Wastewater Treatment Division. Rates effective with bills due on or about June 17, 2024: a $2.00 per-customer US EPA fee, a $16.23 minimum for 0-2 CCF…
Storm
Not published. No stormwater utility, CSO or flooding information specific to the Margaretta service area was found in Erie County or Ohio EPA sources.
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 2 ZIP codes
- 44824 · Margaretta Township and Castalia86% of residents
- 43464 · Townsend Township and Vickery24% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 44870 · Sandusky5% 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
Erie Co. Margaretta District buys its water from Sandusky City.
2 systems on record buy water from Erie Co. Margaretta District: Northern Ohio Rural Water - NW District, Northern Ohio Rural Water-south District.
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
Notable facts: eriecounty.oh.gov, eriecounty.oh.gov, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
History: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, spectrumnews1.com, 13abc.com
Water quality: eriecounty.oh.gov
Capital projects: spectrumnews1.com, 13abc.com
Rates: eriecounty.oh.gov, eriecounty.oh.gov
Sewers: eriecounty.oh.gov, eriecounty.oh.gov
Treatment: eriecounty.oh.gov, eriecounty.oh.gov, spectrumnews1.com
Supply stress: eriecounty.oh.gov, spectrumnews1.com