Water system
Aqua Ohio - Mentor
EPA ID OH4301511 · Lake County · 74,500 people served
Aqua Ohio - Mentor treats its own water from Lake Erie.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Ohio Service Mentor Lake E
- Serves
- 74,500 people · Lake County
- EPA ID
- OH4301511
Aqua Ohio's Mentor system draws directly from Lake Erie via its own intake (formerly Ohio Water Service).
About this area's water
Did you know
- Aqua's 2024 CCR letter notes customers get treated water for 'about a penny a gallon.'
- Aqua Ohio invested nearly $522 million across its Ohio water systems from 2014 to 2024 on reliability and compliance.
- Mentor's 2024 TTHM results ranged from 17.6 all the way to 106 ppb, with some single samples above the 80 ppb limit, yet the system stayed compliant because the rule is scored on a running annual average (59.5 ppb).
- Back in 2018 Aqua spent $400,000 on a carbon feed system at the Mentor plant for one specific reason: to be ready for harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.
History4
- 2018Aqua Ohio replaced 7,700 linear feet of aging, undersized water mains and installed 22 new fire hydrants across three Mentor projects.
- 2018Aqua added a carbon feed system at the Mentor plant to improve treatment for potential harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.
- 2023Mentor took part in the fifth round of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, testing 29 PFAS compounds and lithium with no detections.
- 2014-2024Aqua invested nearly $522 million across its Ohio water systems for reliability and regulatory compliance, per its 2024 CCR letter.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Lake Erie water enters through an offshore intake, is filtered through media filters, dosed through a carbon feed system added in 2018 for algal-bloom events, fluoridated, and disinfected with chlorine; TOC removal and turbidity are tracked as compliance measures.
Water pressure
Not published; no psi figure appears in the 2024 CCR or in any Aqua Ohio material reviewed.
What it costs
No current Mentor residential water rate found in sources reviewed. PUCO case 25-0594-WW-AIR is an Aqua wastewater case and does not set Mentor water rates.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Highest locational running annual average; individual results ranged 17.6-106 ppb. No violation. | 59.5 ppb | 80 ppb (MCL) | 2024 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 15.3-42.6 ppb; byproduct of chlorination. | 31.9 ppb | 60 ppb (MCL) | 2024 |
| Lead (90th percentile) Not detected; 0 of 30 samples exceeded the action level. | ND ppb | 15 ppb action… | 2023 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 30 samples exceeded the action level. | 0.23 ppm | 1.3 ppm action… | 2023 |
| Nitrate Range ND-0.9 ppm; well below the limit. | 0.9 ppm | 10 ppm (MCL) | 2024 |
| Fluoride Range 0.8-1.1 ppm; natural deposits plus water additive. | 1.0 ppm | 4 ppm (MCL) | 2023 |
| Total organic carbon (removal ratio) Below 1.0, but no violation: Mentor met the alternative TOC compliance criteria. | 0.9 ratio | TT: ratio of… | 2024 |
| PFAS (29 compounds, UCMR5) No detections of any of the 29 PFAS compounds or lithium. | not detected ppt | n/a (monitoring… | 2023 |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
1 violation of any kind logged since 2020, 1 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans4
Recent and current work
- Mentor water main and hydrant replacement · $1.9 million · 2018 · completed
7,700 ft of main on Johnnycake Ridge Rd, Perkins Dr/Low Ridge Ln and Hopkins Rd; 22 new hydrants plus 6 replaced. - Carbon feed system, Mentor treatment plant · $400,000 · 2018 · completed
Added to improve treatment for potential harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. - Filter media and under-drain replacement · $190,000 · 2018 · completed
Rebuilt three filters at the Mentor plant to improve reliability and finished-water quality.
Planned or needed
- Aqua Ohio statewide capital investment · $67 million · 2025 · planned
Roughly $67 million planned across all Aqua Ohio systems for treatment and delivery upkeep; not Mentor-specific.
Supply stress
The offshore Lake Erie intake sits in a protection area Aqua calls susceptible to wastewater discharges, agricultural and urban runoff, oil and gas transport, and shipping and boating. Aqua spent $400,000 in 2018 on a carbon feed system for potential algal blooms. No violations in 2024.
Sewers
Sanitary
Mentor's sanitary sewer is run by Lake County DoU, not Aqua: the Gary L. Kron (formerly Greater Mentor) Water Reclamation Facility, a 20 MGD activated sludge plant discharging to Lake Erie, serves Mentor, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Grand River, Fairport Harbor, Concord Twp and parts of Painesville Twp and Kirtland.
Storm
Not covered in the CCR or Aqua materials reviewed; Aqua Ohio - Mentor is a water-only utility.
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
- 44060 · Mentor97% of residents
Also present in 2 more ZIP codes
- 44094 · Willoughby13% of residents
- 44077 · Painesville13% 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
Aqua Ohio - Mentor does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
1 system on record buys water from Aqua Ohio - Mentor: Lake County Pinecrest Subdistrict.
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
Aqua Ohio - Mentor's own pages: prod.aquawater.com