Water system
Norwalk City
EPA ID OH3901111 · Huron County · 17,466 people served · owned by a local government
Norwalk City treats its own water from Huron River / East Branch Huron River (via Upper, Memorial, and Lower Reservoirs).
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Huron River, East Branch Huron River, Upper Reservoir, Memorial Reservoir, Lower Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Huron River
Memorial Reservoir
Reservoir
Reservoir Spillway
E Branch Huron River - Serves
- 17,466 people · Huron County
- EPA ID
- OH3901111
Norwalk's own intakes and reservoirs are all within the Huron River watershed, consistent with SDWIS surface-water designation.
About this area's water
Did you know
- Norwalk's municipal water system dates to 1871, when fewer than 20 towns in the entire state of Ohio had one.
- The reservoirs were nicknamed Laning's Lakes after the city councilman who spent six years pushing the project through before construction began in 1896.
- In 1969 the Lower Reservoir dam failed after nine inches of rain fell on Norwalk in nine hours.
- Norwalk buys supplemental water almost every day of the year: over 54 million gallons came through the Northern Ohio Rural Water connection on 350 days in 2025, and the city says that connection is used about 355 days a…
- The 1927 filtration plant building is still the working water plant, upgraded rather than replaced.
History6
- 1871First water plant built on the East Branch of the Huron River near the current river pump station, at a time when fewer than 20 towns in Ohio had municipal water systems.
- 1896After roughly six years of debate, construction begins on the Upper and Lower reservoirs and an adjacent pump station; the site was chosen partly for its abundant springs. The reservoirs were…
- 1898First water pumped from Lower Reservoir with no additional treatment; a tall standpipe is erected next to the pump station to improve pressure.
- 1924Norwalk begins chlorinating its water at the urging of the Ohio Department of Health.
- 1927Water filtration plant, at Old State Road and Woodlawn Avenue, put into service and still the plant building in use.
- 1952750,000-gallon water tower built near Maple and Chestnut streets, replacing the tower at the plant; high service pumps installed to feed it.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
The plant draws surface water directly from an intake in Lower Reservoir, immediately next to the treatment plant at Old State Road and Woodlawn Avenue (Water Treatment Department, 201 Woodlawn Avenue). Upper, Memorial and Lower Reservoirs form a three-reservoir system holding nearly 700 million…
Source: norwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.com
Water pressure
No psi figure is published. The city states that two water towers maintain system pressure and supply: a 750,000-gallon tower built in 1952 near Maple and Chestnut streets and a…
Source: norwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.com
What it costs
$9.00 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $32 a month for water.
Inside city limits: minimum charge $4.50/month for 1,000 gallons or less, then $0.90 per 100 gallons, which is $9.00 per 1,000 gallons. Outside city limits is exactly double…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Locational running average; no violation, but individual detections ran above the 80 ppb MCL and this is the… | 59.6 (range of… ppb | MCL 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Locational running average; no violation. | 35.5 (range… ppb | MCL 60 | 2025 |
| Total chlorine Residual disinfectant. | 1.57 (range… ppm | MRDL 4 | 2025 |
| Total organic carbon Value is the ratio of TOC actually removed to TOC required to be removed; above 1.0 means compliance. | 1.45 (range -1… removal… | treatment… | 2025 |
| Turbidity Filtration performance indicator. | 0.26 highest… NTU | treatment… | 2025 |
| Fluoride No violation. | 0.94 (range… ppm | MCL 4 | 2025 |
| Barium No violation. | 0.019 (range… ppm | MCL 2 | 2025 |
| Nitrate The CCR prints a level found of 0.8 ppm alongside a detection range of 0.12-0.57 ppm, which is internally inconsistent… | 0.8 ppm | MCL 10 | 2025 |
| Lead 0 of 30 samples above the 15 ppb action level. | 0 (90th… ppb | AL 15 | 2025 |
| Copper 0 of 30 samples above the 1.3 ppm action level. | 0.2 (90th… ppm | AL 1.3 | 2025 |
Source: norwalkoh.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
4 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 4 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans3
Recent and current work
- Water plant rebuild and expansion · 1992 · completed
Raised plant capacity from 2.85 to 4.0 MGD. No cost figure is published by the city. - Northern Ohio Rural Water interconnection · 2010 · completed
Supplemental supply connection now used roughly 355 days a year. No cost published. - Source Water Protection Plan for the Norwalk Creek watershed · 2025 · completed
Developed with the Ohio Rural Water Association and Ohio EPA and endorsed by Ohio EPA in 2025; calls for the city to work with watershed property owners to…
Source: norwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.com
Supply stress
Norwalk's own supply depends entirely on a small, roughly 8-square-mile Norwalk Creek watershed feeding three shallow reservoirs, and the city already covers the gap by buying supplemental water from Northern Ohio Rural Water on about 355 days a year. During drought it also pumps from the East Branch of the Huron River into Memorial…
Source: norwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.com
Sewers
Sanitary
The City of Norwalk operates its own wastewater treatment plant at 201 Plank Road, designed for an average flow of 3.5 million gallons per day with a peak of 8.2 MGD; actual 2024 average daily flow was 2.45 MGD. Flow reaches the plant through two 24-inch interceptor sewers. Treated effluent discharges to the west branch of Rattlesnake…
Storm
Norwalk has COMBINED sewers, not separate ones: the city publishes combined sewer overflow (CSO) explainers, annual CSO reports and event notifications, with 25 separate four-hour CSO events and matching seven-day notifications logged for 2024 alone. A…
Source: norwalkoh.comnorwalkoh.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
- 44857 · Norwalk73% 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
Norwalk City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Norwalk City.
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
Norwalk City's own pages: en.wikipedia.org
Notable facts: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
History: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
Water quality: norwalkoh.com
Water pressure: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
Capital projects: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
Rates: norwalkoh.com, norwalkreflector.com
Sewers: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
Treatment: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com
Supply stress: norwalkoh.com, norwalkoh.com