Water system
Buckeye Lake, Village Of
EPA ID OH4564712 · Licking County · 2,746 people served · owned by a local government
Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys its water from Millersport Village.
The system's record
- Active wells
- 4
- Serves
- 3,200 people · Fairfield County
- EPA ID
- OH2301212
About this area's water
Did you know
- Buckeye Lake's entire water distribution system is younger than its dam crisis — it was installed in 2009-2010, all in lead-free plastic pipe.
- The village doesn't treat a drop of its own drinking water; every gallon is purchased finished from neighboring Millersport.
- In 2015, ODNR drained the lake the village is named for after engineers rated its 1830s-era dam a high failure risk, though this didn't affect the drinking-water wells.
- A local citizen volunteer group's review of sewer financing options in the early 2010s found a 1% loan that saved the village millions over the bonds originally proposed by county commissioners.
History4
- 2009-2010Village's water distribution system was installed (2009) and went online (2010) with all-plastic service lines; the 2025 CCR's lead service line inventory confirms no lead, galvanized, or…
- 2013Buckeye Lake withdraws from Union Township, forming its own paper township, Buckeye Lake Township.
- 2015ODNR orders emergency drawdown of Buckeye Lake after an Army Corps report finds the 1830s-era dam at high risk of failure, displacing lake-based tourism and businesses for the season (unrelated to…
- 2018CORRECTED: Council did NOT reverse the proposed hike. It affirmed a steep, previously adopted increase — marginal usage over 2,000 gal rose 53% ($6.50 to $9.95/1,000 gal) and the base rate rose 11.9%…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.comen.wikipedia.orgbuckeyelakebeacon.net
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Buckeye Lake buys all its finished drinking water from the Millersport Water Treatment Facility, which draws from four wells at Deep Cut Road/Refugee Street in Millersport; Millersport treats with gravity iron and manganese filtration, ion-exchange softening, and chlorination, and can produce up to…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
Water pressure
Not published in the CCR or any ordinance found.
What it costs
$11.42 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $39 a month for water.
2026 rate (Ordinance 2026-02, amending the 2023-2027 schedule set by Ordinance 2022-48): $39.35 basic charge per EDU for the first 2,000 gal, plus $11.42 per additional 1,000 gal…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Disinfection byproduct; not a violation. | 75.3 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Disinfection byproduct, well below MCL. | 14.3 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Gross Alpha (radioactive) Erosion of natural deposits; Millersport source water. | 4.50 pCi/L | 15 | 2020 |
| Fluoride Water additive; Millersport source water. | 1.02 ppm | 4 | 2023 |
| Nitrate Runoff/erosion; well below MCL. | 0.205 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 10 samples over the action level. | 1.4 ppb | 15.5 (action… | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 10 samples over the action level. | 471 ppb | 1350 (action… | 2025 |
| PFAS (6 regulated compounds) Millersport's first PFAS compliance sampling event (Nov. 4, 2025); all non-detect. | non-detect ng/L | EPA 2024 PFAS… | 2025 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits; Millersport source water; well below MCL. | 0.187 ppm | 2 | 2023 |
| Arsenic Erosion of natural deposits; Millersport source water; well below MCL. | <1.0 ppb | 10 | 2025 |
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.4 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
EPA compliance record · Millersport Village (treats the water)
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0.6 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
1 violation of any kind logged since 2020: 1 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
Projects & plans3
Recent and current work
- Village water distribution system installation · 2010 · completed
All-plastic service lines installed 2009-2010; system has no lead or galvanized lines per the 2025 CCR inventory. - Bulk-water purchase agreement with Millersport · completed
Buckeye Lake has purchased 100% of its finished water from Millersport since its distribution system went online in 2010. Origin date and specific…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
Planned or needed
- Multi-year water rate schedule (2023-2027) · under construction
Rates step up annually through Jan. 2027 per Ordinance 2026-02 (amending Ordinance 2022-48): basic EDU rate rises from $39.35 to $39.90 and the…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
Supply stress
Not source-constrained for drinking water: Millersport's source aquifer is rated low-susceptibility by Ohio EPA (75 ft depth to water, ~70 ft of protective clay/sand/gravel above it, per the source water assessment cited in the CCR). The larger local water-stress issue is unrelated to the drinking supply — Buckeye Lake itself sits behind…
Source: buckeyelakevillage.com
Sewers
Sanitary
Licking County Water & Wastewater provides sanitary sewer service to the village; the current published residential rate is $49.00/month per ERU on a 4,500-gallon/month basis (2025 rate schedule) — CORRECTED from a previously stated ~$55/month. A major 2010-2012 rate fight centered on financing a Buckeye Lake-area wastewater treatment…
Storm
No dedicated stormwater utility identified; local street flooding (e.g., Highland Avenue) has reportedly been addressed ad hoc with drainage ditches and a sump pump, per 2018-era local reporting.
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
- 43008 · Buckeye Lake77% of residents
Also present in 3 more ZIP codes
- 43076 · Thorn Township and Thornville7% of residents
- 43025 · Hebron2% of residents
- 43046 · Walnut Township and Millersport1% 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
Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys its water from Millersport Village.
No other system is on record buying water from Buckeye Lake, Village Of.
What the records show about Buckeye Lake, Village Of
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Buckeye Lake, Village Of as owned by a local government. It has 1,049 service connections and serves 2,746 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 740-928-7100.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys water that Millersport Village treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Millersport Village: aeration, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, and ion-exchange softening.
Buckeye Lake, Village Of itself also registers: corrosion control.
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's record shows no health-based violations for Buckeye Lake, Village Of since 2015.
EPA logs no violations of any kind for Buckeye Lake, Village Of since 2020.
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 2025, the 90th-percentile lead result at Buckeye Lake, Village Of was 1.4 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
EPA has 10 sampling periods on file for Buckeye Lake, Village Of since 2016, the first ending in 2016; 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 Buckeye Lake, Village Of sent EPA, 1,030 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 1,030 |
| All lines | 1,030 |
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
The water Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys is treated by Millersport Village, so the results below are Millersport Village's.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Millersport Village (latest sample August 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 Millersport Village as sampled, most recently May 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 Buckeye Lake, Village Of's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 48.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 81.6 µg/L and the highest single sample was 103 µg/L, from 51 samples taken from 2012 to 2019. A yearly average over 80 is not itself a violation, because compliance is judged site by site.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 15.1 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 21 µg/L and the highest single sample was 29.8 µg/L, from 51 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 48.2 µg/L (2019) | 81.6 µg/L | 103 µg/L | 51 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 15.1 µg/L | 21 µg/L | 29.8 µg/L | 51 |
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
The water Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys is treated by Millersport Village, so the results below are Millersport Village's.
Nitrate: the highest of 8 samples was 0.34 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2012; in 2019, the last year sampled, nitrate was not detected. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 34 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 8 | 0.34 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 34 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
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 of Millersport Village.
Solvents and fuels
The water Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys is treated by Millersport Village, so the results below are Millersport Village's.
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 2 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
"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 of Millersport Village.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys is treated by Millersport Village, so the results below are Millersport Village's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 2 of 2 samples, highest 286 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 2 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 2 | 2 of 2 | 286 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
Non-detects count as zero in the highest-result column.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Millersport Village.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 1 of 288 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Buckeye Lake, Village Of tested positive (0.35%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 36 did. E. coli was never found in the 1 sample 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 Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys its water from Millersport Village, a system that has fluoride from natural sources at the recommended level for preventing tooth decay. The level it reports is 1.02 mg/L.
EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Millersport Village, which treats the water Buckeye Lake, Village Of buys.
Measured fluoride: 0.96 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Millersport Village, which supplies Buckeye Lake, Village Of, in 2017 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.81 to 0.96 mg/L across 2 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 Buckeye Lake, Village Of for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $855 a year, about $71 a month.
| Use | Water, per year | Sewer, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2,500 gallons a month | $525 | not on file |
| 5,000 gallons a month | $855 | not on file |
| 8,000 gallons a month | $1,251 | not on file |
The survey lists it as “Buckeye Lake”. 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 Buckeye Lake, Village Of with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 2,619 residents are inside the boundary, 95% of the 2,746 people Buckeye Lake, Village Of reports serving.
The resident count is an estimate from 2020 Census ZIP-code populations, not a count of customers.
Source: EPA Service Area Boundaries; resident estimate by this atlas from ZIP-code overlap.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 4 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 OH4564712 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: buckeyelakevillage.com, buckeyelakebeacon.net
History: buckeyelakevillage.com, en.wikipedia.org, buckeyelakebeacon.net, en.wikipedia.org
Water quality: buckeyelakevillage.com
Planned work: buckeyelakevillage.com
Capital projects: buckeyelakevillage.com
Rates: buckeyelakevillage.com
Sewers: lickingcounty.gov, buckeyelakebeacon.net
Treatment: buckeyelakevillage.com
Supply stress: buckeyelakevillage.com
