Water system
Lorain City
EPA ID OH4700711 · Lorain County · 64,152 people served · owned by a local government
Lorain City treats its own water from Lake Erie.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Lorain Lake Erie
- Serves
- 64,152 people · Lorain County
- EPA ID
- OH4700711
About this area's water
Did you know
- Lorain claims the first plant in the United States built expressly to filter all of a city's water for bacteria, authorized in 1896 after a deadly typhoid epidemic in 1893.
- Potassium permanganate is dosed right at the Lake Erie intake, not for people but to stop invasive zebra mussels from clogging it.
- Lorain has fed orthophosphate for corrosion control since 2010 and has pulled out about 1,500 lead service lines with nearly $2.5 million in Ohio EPA money.
- Lorain's emergency backups are Vermilion, Amherst and Sheffield Lake - all Lake Erie systems supplied by Elyria and Avon Lake. None sent Lorain any water in 2024.
History4
- 1884Lorain's first municipal water plant and distribution system began operating on untreated Black River water.
- 1893A typhoid epidemic struck Lorain, attributed to the lack of filtration.
- 1896A filtration plant was authorized; the city claims it as the first US plant built expressly to filter all of a city's water for bacteria.
- 2010The plant began feeding orthophosphate for corrosion control to keep lead from leaching out of service lines.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Potassium permanganate at the Lake Erie intake for zebra mussels, debris screening, chlorine at plant entry, alum coagulation, flocculation with caustic soda and powdered carbon, sedimentation, then GAC/sand/gravel filters; fluoride, chlorine and orthophosphate last.
Water pressure
Not published in the sources found.
What it costs
Not retrieved. The city's rates page returns 404 and neither water quality report lists rates, so no per-1,000-gallon figure could be confirmed.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM (total trihalomethanes) Range 20.1-62.4 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation. | 51.4 ppb | 80 ppb | 2024 |
| HAA5 (haloacetic acids) Range 7-24.9 ppb; chlorination byproduct, no violation. | 24.3 ppb | 60 ppb | 2024 |
| Lead (90th percentile) Latest round. One site (LC235) hit 34 ppb, but 1 of 30 above the AL is not a violation. | ND ppb | 15 ppb (AL) | 2022 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 30 sites exceeded the action level. | 0.067 ppm | 1.3 ppm (AL) | 2022 |
| Nitrate Range ND-1.35; well below the limit. | 1.35 ppm | 10 ppm | 2024 |
| Fluoride Range 0.6-1.14; dental-health additive plus natural erosion. | 1.01 ppm | 4 ppm | 2024 |
| Turbidity Highest single reading; 100% of monthly samples met the limit. | 0.26 NTU | 0.3 NTU in 95%… | 2024 |
| E. coli All repeat samples were negative; not a violation. No such detection in the 2024 report. | 1 positive of… n/a | MCL not… | 2023 |
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.
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 & plans1
Recent and current work
- Lead Service Line Replacement Program · $2.5 million · under construction
Nearly $2.5 million in Ohio EPA principal forgiveness has funded removal of about 1,500 lead service lines to date.
Supply stress
Lake Erie supplies ample raw water with no quantity limit. The 2024 source water assessment names the nearby Black River, commercial shipping and boating spills, industrial and farm runoff, river dredging, urban stormwater, sewage discharges and combined sewer overflows as risks.
Sewers
Sanitary
Lorain Utilities runs water and sanitary sewer service, overseen by the city's Sewer and Water Advisory Board. The 2024 source water assessment names municipal and home sewage treatment discharges and combined sewer overflows in the Black River watershed as risks to the drinking water intake.
Storm
Neither the water quality report nor the city's water pages state how much of the system is separate versus combined, and we found no dedicated stormwater fee.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 3 ZIP codes
Serves
Main water supplier in 3 ZIP codes
- 44053 · Lorain96% of residents
- 44052 · Lorain95% of residents
- 44055 · Lorain82% 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
Lorain City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
1 system on record buys water from Lorain City: Northern Ohio Rural Water.
What the records show about Lorain City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Lorain City as owned by a local government. It has 26,519 service connections and serves 64,152 people.
EPA classes it as a community water system, one that serves the same residents all year.
EPA's record says it has substantially implemented source water protection under Ohio's program, dating the program from 2023. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 440-204-2280.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Lorain City: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
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 Lorain City since 2015.
EPA logs 1 violation of any kind 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).
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 Lorain City was 0 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027. A result of 0 means at least nine in ten of the homes sampled had no lead detected.
EPA has 4 sampling periods on file for Lorain City 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 Lorain City sent EPA, 20,084 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 8,159 |
| Not lead | 11,925 |
| All lines | 20,084 |
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
EPA's fifth national round of testing (UCMR 5) took 7 samples of the water entering the pipes of Lorain City in 2024 and measured 29 PFAS. No PFAS was detected, PFOA and PFOS (federal limit 4 ng/L each) among them.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Lorain City (latest sample September 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 Lorain City as sampled, most recently October 2024.
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 Lorain City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 38.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 47.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 69.3 µg/L, from 256 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 19.8 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 26.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 58.8 µg/L, from 256 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 38.2 µg/L (2019) | 47.5 µg/L | 69.3 µg/L | 256 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 19.8 µg/L | 26.8 µg/L | 58.8 µg/L | 256 |
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
Nitrate: the highest of 96 samples was 1.5 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2017; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.08 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 8 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 96 | 1.5 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | 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.
Solvents and fuels
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 8 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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.
Farm chemicals and metals
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 8 of 8 samples, highest 42 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 8 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 8 | 8 of 8 | 42 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 2 of 6,780 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Lorain City tested positive (0.03%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 853 did. E. coli was never found in the 2 samples 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 Lorain City adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Lorain City.
Measured fluoride: 1.03 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.95 to 1.16 mg/L across 8 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.
Lithium
Lithium was not detected in 4 UCMR 5 samples at Lorain City, last sampled in 2024 (the method reports from 9 µg/L).
Lithium is not regulated. EPA's draft health reference level is 10 µg/L, and it occurs naturally in deep groundwater, so well systems in the northwest run highest.
Source: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (final release, August 2026), samples from 2023 to 2025.
Algal toxins
Ohio EPA tests for microcystin, a toxin that harmful algal blooms can release, in raw water at the intake and in treated water.
At the intake, microcystin was detected 11 times in 283 raw-water samples, across 4 bloom seasons (2016 to 2022); the highest raw-water result was 0.529 µg/L on September 6, 2016. There has been no raw-water detection since 2024.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (144 samples).
In all, 427 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 283 | 11 | 0.529 µg/L |
| Treated water | 144 | 0 | not detected |
The ten-day advisory levels for treated water are 0.3 µg/L for children under six and 1.6 µg/L for everyone else. Any detection at the intake triggers more frequent testing until two clean weeks.
Source: Ohio EPA public water system harmful algal bloom monitoring, 2016 to present (HAB data, fetched September 2026).
How well the service area is mapped
The service area drawn on the map for Lorain City comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 63,478 residents are inside the boundary, 99% of the 64,152 people Lorain City 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 — 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
EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH4700711 (EPA ECHO).
Lorain City's own pages: cityoflorain.org, cityoflorain.org
