Westerville City

• Westerville was the first community in Ohio to fluoridate its drinking water, starting in 1951.
• It is a lime-softening plant: hardness is cut to about 111 mg/L (6.5 grains per gallon) on average before the water leaves the plant.
• At $36 a month in 2024, Westerville's average residential water bill was among the lowest in central Ohio - below Reynoldsburg ($52), Upper Arlington ($51) and Dublin ($48).
• Westerville keeps an emergency connection to Columbus's water system but has not needed to use it since 1994.

• 1924City opened its first Alum Creek water treatment plant, ending the community's reliance on well water for drinking supply.
• 1951Westerville became the first community in Ohio to fluoridate its drinking water.
• 1970-1975US Army Corps of Engineers built Alum Creek Dam upstream of the city; authorized by Congress in 1962, construction began 1970, dam completed 1975.
• 1977A federal grant funded a wastewater collection upgrade; two collector sewers were added and all known sanitary sewer overflows were permanently blocked.
• 2024Centennial of the Alum Creek plant on Dec. 30; the Westerville Public Library and History Museum mounted an exhibit on the milestone.

How it is treated

Plant at 312 W. Main St., licensed for 7.5 MGD: ferric chloride coagulation, lime and caustic soda softening, carbon dioxide for pH, rapid sand filters, GAC filters, sodium hypochlorite, then phosphate for corrosion control and fluoride. PAC and permanganate as needed.

Water pressure

Not published. The city reports no system-wide average pressure or pressure-zone figures; treated water is stored in a clearwell and pumped to elevated storage tanks.

$8.14 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $36 a month for water.

May 2026: $11.22/month minimum (includes first 2 ccf), then $6.09/ccf = $8.14 per 1,000 gal; falls to $5.00 and $3.46/ccf at higher tiers.

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.5 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2016Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.09 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2015Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.09 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance

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

Recent and current work

• Lead and galvanized service line inventory · 2024 · completed
  Required inventory published as a searchable online map; residents asked to self-report or scratch-test lines of unknown material.

Planned or needed

• Galvanized water service line replacement · 2027-2034 · planned
  City replacement plan required by fall 2027 and replacements complete by 2034; the city replaces the public portion, the owner the private portion.

Both Alum Creek and the Alum Creek Valley Aquifer are classified highly susceptible to contamination - oil and gas wells, leaking tanks, landfills and salt storage sit in the source area. Peak day 5.15 MGD against 7.5 MGD plant capacity; the Columbus emergency tie is unused since 1994.

Sanitary

Westerville maintains the collection system (3,109 manholes, one lift station at Mariners Cove) but owns no treatment plant: all wastewater is treated by the City of Columbus or the Delaware County sewage district under contract. A 1977 grant-funded upgrade blocked all known overflows; none found since.

Storm

Fully separate storm system - 133 miles of storm sewer and 43 outfalls to Alum Creek and Big Walnut Creek under an Ohio EPA Phase II MS4 permit. No separate residential stormwater fee appears on the city rate sheet.

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