Willard City

• Willard treats river water only after pumping it roughly 3 miles into a man-made 215-acre, 2.3-billion-gallon upground reservoir -- effectively a giant pre-settling basin before the plant ever sees it.
• The city is a regional wholesaler, not just a retailer: its 2025 CCR says the system serves about 9,255 people across Willard, Celeryville, New Haven, the Village of Plymouth and rural customers, and Northern Ohio Rural…
• In May 1998 the Willard plant was picked out of roughly 6,000 Ohio water plants for the state's Outstanding Public Water System Award.
• A single April 2026 storm triggered a 15-hour combined sewer overflow that released 7.78 million gallons into Jacob Creek.

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.govnorw.org

• 1897Willard's Water Department was established on October 7, 1897; C. H. Hevey served as the first superintendent.
• 1898The city's first water treatment plant was constructed.
• 1970The current Class III surface water treatment plant at 540 Central Ave was originally built.
• 1998In May 1998 the Willard Water Plant was selected out of roughly 6,000 Ohio plants for the state's 'Outstanding Public Water System Award.'
• 2004The water treatment plant was upgraded.
• 2025Ohio EPA sent the city two warning letters (5/27/25 and 9/3/25) over missed lead service line inventory deadlines; the city notified the public and submitted an acceptable inventory on August 4, 2025.

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

How it is treated

Raw water is drawn from an intake on the West Branch of the Huron River and pumped about 3 miles to the 215-acre, 2.3-billion-gallon Willard Up-ground Reservoir east of town, then treated at a Class III surface water plant rated at 3.2 MGD design capacity (currently averaging about 1.3 MGD).…

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

Water pressure

Not published. The city posts a water FAQ, water rules and regulations, and a bill-explainer document, none of which state a distribution system pressure; no psi figure appears in…

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

$5.50 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $43 a month for water.

Inside-city residential rates effective January 1, 2026 (3/4" meter): $5.60 monthly base + $5.50 per 1,000 gallons for the first 500,000 gallons ($2.85 per 1,000 above that) + a…

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

Source: willardohio.gov

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2026 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2024Lead and Copper Rule (lead) · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance

2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Water supply itself is not constrained: the plant's 3.2 MGD design capacity is well above current production of about 1.3 MGD, and the 2.3-billion-gallon upground reservoir buffers river flow. The real stress is wet-weather sewer capacity. Willard runs a combined sewer system, and screened combined sewage overflows to Jacob Creek during…

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

Sanitary

City-owned wastewater treatment plant with a 7.2 MGD maximum capacity, 4.5 MGD design daily flow and an annual daily average of about 2.0 MGD. Treatment is preliminary screening, grease removal, grit separation and septage receiving, then aerobic vertical loop reactors, clarification, UV disinfection and cascade aeration; sludge goes…

Storm

Combined sewer system with a 17.6-million-gallon combined sewage/stormwater holding lagoon at 611 Keefer Street, equipped with screening and grit removal. Storm overflow from the lagoon discharges to Jacob Creek, which flows into Holiday Lakes; the city's CSO…

Source: willardohio.govwillardohio.gov

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