Water system

Walnut Creek Water Co.

EPA ID OH3801512 · Holmes County · 1,270 people served

Groundwater wells (3 wells)
Groundwater

Walnut Creek Water Co. treats its own water from Groundwater wells (3 wells).

The system's record

Groundwater wells (3 wells)
Groundwater
Wells: EPA lists 3 active wells. ODNR well logs locate 3 public-supply wells inside Walnut Creek Water Co.'s wellhead protection zone, 45 to 302 ft deep, in sandstone. Zoom in to see them as dots.
Well 1Well 3Well 4
Active wells
3
Serves
1,270 people · Holmes County
EPA ID
OH3801512

About this area's water

Did you know
  • Walnut Creek Water Co. is not a village-run utility at all -- EPA's own records list an individual, Kermit Miller, as the water system's contact of record, serving about 1,270 people in Ohio's Amish Country tourist area.
  • The system's EPA compliance file runs to 109 entries, but the large majority are routine monitoring/reporting paperwork from the 1990s and 2000s, now resolved -- current lead and copper levels are well within federal…
  • Three Consumer Confidence Report filing violations, from 2018, 2020, and 2022, remain listed as "unaddressed" in EPA records, and no validated current CCR for the system could be located -- a real gap in what small…
  • Neighboring water systems in Holmes County have reportedly studied simply buying water from Walnut Creek Water Co. rather than building their own treatment plants.

Source: mytapwater.orgtapwaterdata.com

History3
  • 2010Holmes County Commissioners approved agreements to complete improvements to the adjacent, county-run Walnut Creek wastewater treatment plant serving the community.
  • 2011Expanded and upgraded Walnut Creek wastewater treatment plant reportedly dedicated Nov. 3; a $5.3 million project said to have raised capacity from 90,000 to 400,000 gallons/day. The original…
  • 2023Walnut Creek Water Company reportedly received an Ohio BUILDS Water Infrastructure Grant (Round 4) to install about 20,000 linear feet of new waterline and a 100,000-gallon elevated storage tank. Not…

Source: the-daily-record.com

Treatment & pressure

How it is treated

Groundwater from 3 wells; we found no public description of the treatment steps (disinfection method, iron/hardness treatment, etc.). EPA's contact of record for this system is an individual, Kermit Miller (P.O. Box 51, Walnut Creek, OH 44687), per EPA SDWIS data.

Source: mytapwater.org

Water pressure

Not published.

What it costs

An Ohio EPA statewide sewer/water rate survey reportedly lists sample-bill figures for Walnut Creek Water Company (values cited around $432-$606 at various usage tiers), but the…

Water quality & impurities2
ContaminantLevelLimitYear
Lead (90th percentile)
Below the federal action level -- no violation. Per EPA Lead and Copper Rule sampling compiled by mytapwater.org from…
1.57 ppb…15 (action…2021-202…
Copper
Two mid-1993 samples (S1, S2) exceeded the copper action level per EPA records. This is 30+-year-old data with no…
1.6 mg/L1.3 (action…1993

Source: mytapwater.org

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.6 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

  • 2024Lead and Copper Rule Revisions · lead service line inventory missing or incomplete (a records requirement, not a lead test result) · returned to compliance

4 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 3 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records); 1 health-based.

Projects & plans3

Recent and current work

  • Cherry Ridge water line extension · $164,534 · 2024 · completed
    Listed in Holmes County Commissioners' Aug. 2024 meeting minutes as an FDCC-coded project payment (project #00704-E2014).
  • Waterline extension and 100,000-gallon elevated tank · 2023 · under construction
    Reportedly funded via an Ohio BUILDS Round 4 grant; ~20,000 linear feet of new waterline plus a new elevated tank. Current completion status not reconfirmed…

Source: holmescountycommissioners.com

Planned or needed

  • Regional interconnection option for a neighboring system · 2026 · proposed
    Holmes County Commissioners minutes reportedly list connecting to Walnut Creek Water Company (requiring a new booster station and water tower) as one option…

Source: holmescountycommissioners.com

Supply stress

EPA compliance history (109 records per mytapwater.org's compilation of EPA SDWIS/ECHO data) is overwhelmingly routine 1990s-2000s monitoring/reporting paperwork, now resolved, plus a Total Coliform Rule MCL violation in Oct-Nov 2012 (archived/resolved). More notably, three Consumer Confidence Report "Inadequate Reporting" violations --…

Source: mytapwater.orgtapwaterdata.com

Sewers

Sanitary

Wastewater for the Walnut Creek area is reportedly treated at a separate, Holmes County-operated wastewater treatment plant (expanded in 2011 to 400,000 gpd capacity, by the same reports), distinct from Walnut Creek Water Co., which supplies only drinking water.

Source: the-daily-record.com

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

Also present in 2 more ZIP codes

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

Walnut Creek Water Co. does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.

No other system is on record buying water from Walnut Creek Water Co..

What the records show about Walnut Creek Water Co.

Who runs it

EPA's record says Walnut Creek Water Co. has 425 service connections and serves 1,270 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 330-763-3621.

Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.

How the water is treated

EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Walnut Creek Water Co.: aeration, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, 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 counts 1 health-based violation for Walnut Creek Water Co. since 2015. Health-based means a contaminant above its legal limit or a required treatment step not carried out. It falls into 1 separate problem (one contaminant or rule in one year); the table lists it.

EPA logs 4 violations of any kind since 2020: 3 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records); 1 health-based.

Health-based violations since 2015, most recent first
YearContaminant or ruleKindMeasuredLimitStatus in EPA's record
2024Lead and Copper Rule Revisionslead service line inventory missing or incomplete (a records requirement, not a lead test result)not on filenot on filereturned to compliance

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 2023, the 90th-percentile lead result at Walnut Creek Water Co. was 1.6 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.

The highest result on file is 1.8 ppb, in the period ending December 2020.

EPA has 3 sampling periods on file for Walnut Creek Water Co. since 2016, the first ending in 2017; 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 Walnut Creek Water Co. sent EPA, 325 lines are counted.

Service lines in the inventory
MaterialLines
Lead0
Galvanized, needing replacement0
Unknown material0
Not lead325
All lines325

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 Walnut Creek Water Co. (latest sample October 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 Walnut Creek Water Co. as sampled, most recently April 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 Walnut Creek Water Co.'s samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 8.5 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 10.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 13.8 µg/L, from 15 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.

For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 0 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 1.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 1.5 µg/L, from 15 samples.

Disinfection byproducts in the distribution system
ByproductLimitLatest yearly averageWorst yearly averageHighest sampleSamples
TTHM80 µg/L8.5 µg/L (2019)10.5 µg/L13.8 µg/L15
HAA560 µg/L0 µg/L1.5 µg/L1.5 µg/L15

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 10 samples was 0.86 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2017; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 0.49 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.

Arsenic was not detected in 4 samples (limit 10 µg/L).

Nitrate, arsenic and radioactivity in finished water, 2012 to 2019
ContaminantSamplesHighest resultLimitSamples over limit
Nitrate (as nitrogen)100.86 mg/L10 mg/L0
Arsenic4not detected10 µg/L0
Combined radium12.6 pCi/L5 pCi/L0
Gross alpha13.8 pCi/L15 pCi/L0

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. Benzene, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and vinyl chloride were not detected in 5 samples each.

Solvents and fuels in finished water, 2012 to 2019
CompoundLimitSamplesDetected inHighest resultSamples over limit
Benzene5 µg/L50 of 5not detected0
Carbon tetrachloride5 µg/L50 of 5not detected0
1,2-dichloroethane5 µg/L50 of 5not detected0
Trichloroethylene (TCE)5 µg/L50 of 5not detected0
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE)5 µg/L50 of 5not detected0
Vinyl chloride2 µg/L50 of 5not detected0

"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. Detected: barium in 3 of 4 samples, highest 75.3 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 4 samples each.

Herbicides and metals in finished water, 2012 to 2019
SubstanceKindLimitSamplesDetected inHighest resultSamples over limit
AtrazineFarm chemical3 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
AlachlorFarm chemical2 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
ChromiumMetal100 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
CadmiumMetal5 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
BariumMetal2,000 µg/L43 of 475.3 µg/L0
MercuryMetal2 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
SeleniumMetal50 µg/L40 of 4not detected0
ThalliumMetal2 µg/L40 of 4not detected0

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, 6 of 200 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Walnut Creek Water Co. tested positive (3%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 24 did. E. coli was never found in the 6 samples 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 Walnut Creek Water Co. 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 0.45 mg/L.

EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Walnut Creek Water Co.

Measured fluoride: 0.48 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2018 (below the 0.7 mg/L target); samples ran from 0.35 to 0.48 mg/L across 4 samples 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.

Water and sewer bills

Ohio EPA's 2023 rate survey puts the water bill at Walnut Creek Water Co. for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $477 a year, about $40 a month.

Annual bills, 2023
UseWater, per yearSewer, per year
2,500 gallons a month$360not on file
5,000 gallons a month$477not on file
8,000 gallons a month$711not on file

The survey lists it as “Walnut Creek Water Company”. These are inside-city rates and annual bills at the use shown.

Source: Ohio EPA 2023 Sewer and Water Rate Survey (Ohio State University, May 2025).

How well the service area is mapped

EPA estimated the service area of Walnut Creek Water Co. with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.

Source: EPA Service Area Boundaries; resident estimate by this atlas from ZIP-code overlap.

Photograph

View of the Walnut Creek valley on the south side of Walnut Creek, Holmes County, Ohio
View of the Walnut Creek valley on the south side of Walnut Creek, Holmes County, OhioPhoto: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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

EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH3801512 (EPA ECHO).

Notable facts: mytapwater.org, tapwaterdata.com

History: the-daily-record.com

Water quality: mytapwater.org

Planned work: holmescountycommissioners.com

Capital projects: holmescountycommissioners.com

Sewers: the-daily-record.com

Treatment: mytapwater.org

Supply stress: mytapwater.org, tapwaterdata.com

Quick answers

Where does Walnut Creek Water Co. get its water?

Walnut Creek Water Co. treats its own water from Groundwater wells (3 wells).

How many people does Walnut Creek Water Co. serve?

Walnut Creek Water Co. serves about 1,270 people, and is the main water system for 1 ZIP code.

Is there lead in Walnut Creek Water Co. water?

In 2021-202… testing, Walnut Creek Water Co.'s 90th-percentile lead level in tap samples was 1.57 ppb… (the federal action level is 15 ppb). Below the federal action level -- no violation. Per EPA Lead and Copper Rule sampling compiled by mytapwater.org from….

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