Water system
Kelleys Island Village
EPA ID OH2201111 · Erie County · 3,125 people served · owned by a local government
Kelleys Island Village treats its own water from Lake Erie.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Lake Erie
- Serves
- 3,125 people · Erie County
- EPA ID
- OH2201111
About this area's water
Did you know
- The island's raw water intake reaches 600 feet out into Lake Erie. When it failed in 2025 the village kept water flowing by rigging a portable bypass pump -- which itself became an Ohio EPA Notice of Violation, twice.
- A peer-reviewed survey of cyanobacterial toxins in the Laurentian Great Lakes (Miller et al., Marine Drugs, 2017) listed the Kelleys Island plant among systems where microcystin turned up in finished, already-treated…
- Kelleys Island has a municipal water system serving over 800 homes and businesses -- and no municipal sewer at all. More than 550 septic systems and a dozen separately permitted package plants handle the island's…
- A drinking water violation here can be a weather problem: the village's Q1 2025 HAA5 monitoring violation happened because the samples froze and there was no flying weather to get a replacement off the island in time.
- Residential water runs $14.53 per 100 cubic feet -- about $19.43 per 1,000 gallons -- roughly four times what a New London resident pays in the equivalent tier, and it is billed only four times a year.
Source: kelleysisland.uspmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govkelleysisland.us
History6
- 2010-2015…Miller et al., writing in Marine Drugs, listed the Kelleys Island Water Treatment Plant among Great Lakes systems where microcystin was detected in finished drinking water -- mean 0.025 ug/L and…
- 2024Village announced (Sept 9, 2024) that K.E. McCartney & Associates had been selected as project engineer for the Kelleys Island Sanitary Improvements Project, with GPS and aerial LiDAR drone surveying…
- 2025Ohio EPA issued a Notice of Violation dated May 13, 2025 for an HAA5 monitoring violation in Q1 2025: the samples froze and there was no flying weather to ship a replacement sample off the island in…
- 2025The raw water intake pipe failed and the village bypassed it with a portable pump, drawing a Notice of Violation dated September 18, 2025 and a further raw-water-intake Notice of Violation dated…
- 2025Village administrator reported to council on October 11, 2025 that the village had received final approval from OPWC to begin the water intake project. The water department also reported two water…
- 2025Council took up a resolution in November 2025 selecting Simonson Construction Services, Inc. as best-value construction manager at risk for the sanitary collection system and WWTP project, with…
Source: kelleysisland.uspmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govkelleysisland.us
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Surface water is drawn from an intake 600 feet out in Lake Erie and treated at the Kelleys Island Water Treatment Plant, with filtration performance tracked by turbidity (highest 2025 result 0.11 NTU against the 0.3 NTU limit, 100% of monthly samples compliant) and by Total Organic Carbon removal…
Source: kelleysisland.uskelleysisland.us
Water pressure
Not published. Neither the 2025 CCR nor the water department's Policies & Procedures sheet gives a service pressure or describes pressure zones, and none of the council minutes…
Source: kelleysisland.uskelleysisland.us
What it costs
$19.43 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $102 a month for water.
Kelleys Island Water Department Policies & Procedures, updated 10/24/2024. Bills go out quarterly in January, April, July and October, due 30 days after the end of the cycle. Base…
Source: kelleysisland.us
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range of detections 32.70-78.9 ppb; disinfection by-product. No violation. | 57.8 ppb | MCL 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 7.4-27.4 ppb. Subject to a Q1 2025 monitoring violation (a paperwork/sampling failure, not an exceedance) after… | 20.55 ppb | MCL 60 | 2025 |
| Total Chlorine Range 1.17-1.89 ppm; residual disinfectant. | 1.49 ppm | MRDL 4 | 2025 |
| Nitrate (as Nitrogen) Range 0-1.41 ppm; well below the MCL. | 0.47 ppm | MCL 10 | 2025 |
| Barium Range 0.014-0.014 ppm. | 0.014 ppm | MCL 2 | 2025 |
| Fluoride Range 0.1-0.1 ppm. Notably low -- roughly a tenth of the level at fluoridating systems like New London and Millersport.… | 0.1 ppm | MCL 4 | 2025 |
| Turbidity The CCR's table gives level found 0.08 NTU with a range of 0.02-0.11; the narrative box gives the highest result as… | 0.11 NTU… | TT: 0.3 NTU in… | 2025 |
| Total Organic Carbon (removal ratio) Range 1.2-2.1. In compliance. | 1.52 ratio… | TT: value… | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 10 sites over the action level. No lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement, or unknown-status service lines in the… | 0 ppb | AL 15 | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) The CCR prints the 90th-percentile value as 174 in a row labelled ppm with an action level of 1.3 ppm, which cannot be… | 174 ppb (see… | AL 1.3 ppm | 2025 |
Source: kelleysisland.us
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.5 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 required testing that was missed or reported late.
Projects & plans3
Recent and current work
- Raw water intake project (failure, emergency bypass and repair) · 2025 · under construction
The intake pipe failed in 2025 and the village kept water flowing with a portable bypass pump, drawing Ohio EPA Notices of Violation dated September 18 and… - Water loss audit (third round) with ARCAP · 2025 · under construction
Village reported to council on October 11, 2025 that it was in the third round of its water loss audit with ARCAP, funded by an Ohio EPA grant. No cost or…
Source: kelleysisland.uskelleysisland.us
Planned or needed
- Kelleys Island Sanitary Improvements Project -- Phase 1 (gravity sewers, central pump station, new WWTP) · $8 million · 2026 · planned
Preliminary Phase 1 cost of approximately $8 million per K.E. McCartney & Associates' October 15, 2025 public meeting presentation, depending on funding and…
Supply stress
The entire island depends on a single Lake Erie surface intake, and that intake failed in 2025 -- the only way the village could keep water flowing was a portable bypass pump that itself drew two Ohio EPA Notices of Violation. There is no second source, no wells, and no purchased water. Ohio EPA treats all surface water as susceptible…
Source: kelleysisland.uspmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govkelleysisland.us
Sewers
Sanitary
No centralized municipal sewer system and no village wastewater treatment plant. Several small package plants serve the downtown, condominiums, and large businesses, parks and camps under 12 individual NPDES permits -- the engineer's October 2025 presentation lists the State Park campground and Camp Patmos at 20,000 gpd each, West Bay…
Storm
No dedicated stormwater utility or fee appears in the village's published water department fee schedule. Heavy rains in early July 2026 caused significant flooding across the island, severely flooding the EMS training and storage rooms and damaging water…
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
- 43438 · Kelleys Island65% 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
Kelleys Island 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 Kelleys Island Village.
What the records show about Kelleys Island Village
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Kelleys Island Village as owned by a local government. It has 713 service connections and serves 3,125 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 419-746-2555.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Kelleys Island Village: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, powdered activated carbon, 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 Kelleys Island Village since 2015.
EPA logs 2 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
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 Kelleys Island Village was 2.5 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
The highest result on file is 4 ppb, in the period ending December 2022.
EPA has 9 sampling periods on file for Kelleys Island Village 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 Kelleys Island Village sent EPA, 678 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 678 |
| All lines | 678 |
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
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Kelleys Island Village (latest sample September 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
Ohio EPA's current sampling status map lists 1 plant of Kelleys Island Village as sampled, most recently July 2026.
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 Kelleys Island Village's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 61.7 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 65.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 106 µg/L, from 55 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 32.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 44.2 µg/L and the highest single sample was 94.7 µg/L, from 55 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 61.7 µg/L (2019) | 65.5 µg/L | 106 µg/L | 55 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 32.6 µg/L | 44.2 µg/L | 94.7 µg/L | 55 |
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 96 samples was 1.65 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.53 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 8 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 96 | 1.65 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | 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. tetrachloroethylene (PCE) was detected in 1 of 15 samples, highest 1.2 µg/L (limit 5). Benzene, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride were not detected in 15 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 15 | 0 of 15 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 15 | 0 of 15 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 15 | 0 of 15 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 15 | 0 of 15 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 15 | 1 of 15 | 1.2 µg/L | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 15 | 0 of 15 | 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. Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, barium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 8 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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, 1 of 385 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Kelleys Island Village tested positive (0.26%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 48 did. E. coli was found in 1 of 1 sample 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 Kelleys Island Village has fluoride from natural sources, but at a level below what is recommended for preventing tooth decay, and does not adjust it. The level it reports is 0.13 mg/L.
EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Kelleys Island Village.
Measured fluoride: none was detected in 8 samples at the plant's entry points 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.
Algal toxins
Ohio EPA tests for microcystin, a toxin that harmful algal blooms can release, in raw water at the intake and in treated water.
At the intake, microcystin was detected 25 times in 315 raw-water samples, across 7 bloom seasons (2016 to 2026); the highest raw-water result was 30 µg/L on August 12, 2024. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 30 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (254 samples).
In all, 569 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 315 | 25 | 30 µg/L |
| Treated water | 254 | 0 | not detected |
The ten-day advisory levels for treated water are 0.3 µg/L for children under six and 1.6 µg/L for everyone else. Any detection at the intake triggers more frequent testing until two clean weeks.
Source: Ohio EPA public water system harmful algal bloom monitoring, 2016 to present (HAB data, fetched September 2026).
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of Kelleys Island Village with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 166 residents are inside the boundary, 5% of the 3,125 people Kelleys Island Village reports serving. With so much of its territory outside the polygon, part of the system shows on the map as private wells.
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 — 1 ZIP code 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 OH2201111 (EPA ECHO).
Kelleys Island Village's own pages: eriecounty.oh.gov
Notable facts: kelleysisland.us, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
History: kelleysisland.us, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Water quality: kelleysisland.us
Planned work: kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Water pressure: kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Capital projects: kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Rates: kelleysisland.us
Sewers: kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Treatment: kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us
Supply stress: kelleysisland.us, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, kelleysisland.us, kelleysisland.us