Water system
Steubenville, City Of
EPA ID OH4102411 · Jefferson County · 17,000 people served · owned by a local government
Steubenville, City Of treats its own water from Ohio River.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Ohio River
- Raw intakes
- Steubenville Ohio River Int
- Serves
- 17,000 people · Jefferson County
- EPA ID
- OH4102411
About this area's water
Did you know
- Steubenville's Superpulsator filtration plant, commissioned in August 2007, is described by the city as the only facility of its kind in the State of Ohio.
- The wastewater plant can treat six times its design average flow in a storm — 6 MGD normally, up to 36 MGD in wet weather — but everything above 13.5 MGD gets primary treatment only before it reaches the Ohio River.
- Steubenville draws its drinking water from the same river its treated wastewater returns to; the city's own water quality report lists combined sewer overflows and municipal wastewater discharges among the threats to…
- The intake has a street address of sorts: the raw water pumping station sits at Ohio River mile marker 65.3.
- In June 2024 the city simply missed a week of required cyanobacteria screening, earning a Tier 3 monitoring violation printed inside its own annual water quality report.
Source: cityofsteubenville.uscms8.revize.comcityofsteubenville.us
History4
- 2007City commissioned a Superpulsator (solids-contact clarifier) filtration plant on University Blvd in August 2007, described by the city as 'the only one of its kind in the State of Ohio at this time.'
- 2018City unveiled a five-year rate increase plan raising the average combined water/sewer/sanitation bill $40.04 in October 2018, with the minimum monthly bill rising from $68.82 to $92.52 by October…
- 2024Steubenville recorded a turbidity treatment-technique violation on January 16 (1.488 NTU, above the 1.0 NTU maximum) and a separate monitoring violation for failing to sample for cyanobacteria the…
- 2025City advertised bids for roughly $20.4 million in filtration plant upgrades — a fourth Superpulsator, a fifth filter and a major SCADA replacement — with construction expected to start in 2026 and…
Source: cityofsteubenville.usweirtondailytimes.comcms8.revize.com
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Ohio River water is drawn at the city's raw water pumping station and intakes at Ohio River mile marker 65.3, pumped from the Alikanna Pump Station to a 6-million-gallon reservoir at the Filtration Plant, 1575 University Blvd. The plant is a Superpulsator (solids-contact clarifier) facility…
Source: cityofsteubenville.uscms8.revize.com
Water pressure
Not published. Neither the city water department page nor the 2024 CCR states system pressure, and no pressure figure should be inferred.
What it costs
$16.27 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $53 a month for water.
WATER (city Utility Collection Office): $23.35 for the first 1,000 gallons, $16.27 for each additional 1,000 gallons, plus a $13.00 water infrastructure fee. Published minimum…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turbidity VIOLATION. Highest 2024 reading, recorded 1/16/2024 at 5:45am; 99.6% of monthly samples still met the turbidity… | 1.488 NTU | TT — must not… | 2024 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Disinfection by-product; range 8.5-79.7, with the high end approaching the MCL. No violation. | 49.1 ppb | 80 | 2024 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Disinfection by-product; range 9.2-49.7. No violation. | 32.8 ppb | 60 | 2024 |
| Chlorine Disinfectant residual; range 1.23-2.00. No violation. | 1.81 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2024 |
| Nitrate Runoff from fertilizer use; range 0.58-3.72. No violation. | 3.72 ppm | 10 | 2024 |
| Fluoride Water additive plus natural erosion; range 0.20-1.11. No violation. | 1.02 ppm | 4 | 2024 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits; discharge of drilling waste. No violation. | 0.031 ppm | 2 | 2024 |
| Total Organic Carbon Range 0.57-1.94. Precursor to disinfection by-products. No violation. | 1.35 ppm | TT | 2024 |
| Lead (90th pct) 0 of 39 sites above the action level; range 0-10.3. City is on reduced triannual sampling; next round 2025. | 2.24 ppb | 15 (AL) | 2022 |
| Copper (90th pct) 0 of 39 sites above the action level; range 0.007-0.721. | 0.207 ppm | 1.3 (AL) | 2022 |
Source: cms8.revize.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.1 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA health-based violations since 2015:
- 2025Chlorine residual (SWTR) · treatment technique violation · open
- 2024Total coliform · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance
- 2020Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.085 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
- 2016Ground Water Rule · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance
3 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 0 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans8
Recent and current work
- Filtration plant upgrades, Phase Two (fourth Superpulsator, fifth filter, SCADA replacement) · $20 million · 2025 · planned
Advertised for bids through November 7, 2025 with a November 13 pre-bid meeting; about $19M construction and the balance engineering. Design roughly 95%… - West End water system connection · $16 million · 2025 · under construction
New pump station at Tweed Avenue and a 400,000-gallon tank near County Road 26 and Lovers Lane, routing water from the downtown plant via Lincoln Avenue, Coal… - Wintersville emergency water line interconnection · $650,000 · 2025 · planned
Fully funded by an Ohio EPA award, at no cost to either municipality; in design as of September 2025. - Industrial bulk water filling station · 2025 · under construction
Near State Route 7 and the ODOT salt barn; excavation underway September 2025, prefabricated building due within 4-5 weeks. Intended to enable bulk water sales… - Historic filtration plant demolition · 2025 · planned
The former filtration plant on University Boulevard near Belleview Park is slated for demolition, with efforts to preserve historical features and signage. No… - 2025 Draft Long Term Control Plan (LTCP), Volumes I and II · 2025 · planned
Draft LTCP and Volume II (Appendices), both dated January 1, 2025, posted on the city wastewater department page addressing combined sewer overflows. A 2025…
Source: heraldstaronline.comwtov9.comcityofsteubenville.us
Planned or needed
- Long Term Control Plan implementation (combined sewer overflow controls) · planned
The city's draft 2025 LTCP indicates a CSO control program is being developed. No implementation schedule or cost is published in the sources reachable; do not… - Filtration plant Phase Two construction · $20 million · 2026 · planned
Construction anticipated to start spring or summer 2026 and run up to two years, contingent on Ohio EPA approval and a low-interest loan.
Supply stress
The Ohio River is a large, non-drought-limited source, so Steubenville faces no quantity constraint — but the city's own 2024 CCR states the opposite of a clean bill on quality: 'the drinking water supplied to the City of Steubenville public water supply system is considered to have a high susceptibility to contamination.' The CCR names…
Source: cms8.revize.com
Sewers
Sanitary
The city's own Wastewater Treatment Plant at 100 North Water St. is an activated-sludge plant with a design average daily flow of 6 MGD. It provides both primary and secondary treatment for flows up to 13.5 MGD and is capable of treating up to 36 MGD in wet weather, with flows between 13.5 and 36 MGD receiving primary treatment only…
Storm
Storm and sanitary flows are combined in parts of the system — the city's wastewater page posts a 2025 Draft Long Term Control Plan (Volumes I and II, dated January 1, 2025) addressing combined sewer overflows, plus a 2025 SSO WIB Report. No separate…
Source: cityofsteubenville.us
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
- 43952 · Steubenville97% of residents
Also present in 2 more ZIP codes
- 43953 · Cross Creek Township and Steubenville26% of residents
- 43938 · Mingo Junction8% 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
Steubenville, City Of does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Steubenville, City Of.
Photograph
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
Notable facts: cityofsteubenville.us, cms8.revize.com, cityofsteubenville.us, cityofsteubenville.us
History: cityofsteubenville.us, weirtondailytimes.com, cms8.revize.com, wtov9.com
Water quality: cms8.revize.com
Planned work: cityofsteubenville.us, heraldstaronline.com
Capital projects: heraldstaronline.com, wtov9.com, cityofsteubenville.us
Rates: cityofsteubenville.us, weirtondailytimes.com
Sewers: cityofsteubenville.us
Treatment: cityofsteubenville.us, cms8.revize.com
Supply stress: cms8.revize.com