Water system
Sheffield Village
EPA ID OH4701203 · Lorain County · 4,165 people served · owned by a local government
Sheffield Village buys its water from Rural Lorain Co. Water A.
The system's record
Also connected to New London Village (Buck Creek, impounded in New London's upground reservoir), Ashland City (Jerome Fork Basin sand-and-gravel aquifer (wells)), used as a secondary or emergency supply.
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Avon Lake Lake Erie
- Seller serves
- 23,659 people · Lorain County
- Seller's EPA ID
- OH4700311
About this area's water Avon Lake City
The history, photo, rates, sewer details and water quality notes below are for Avon Lake City, which supplies the water Sheffield Village buys. They are not Sheffield Village's own figures.
Did you know
- The utility began in 1925 with $390,000 and 1,200 customers; today it is roughly a $60 million operation serving over 200,000 people across a 680-square-mile territory in seven counties.
- About 85% of the water the plant produces is sold outside Avon Lake's own city limits — to Avon, North Ridgeville, Sheffield Lake, Medina and others.
- Lab staff run about 150 water quality tests a day, more than 50,000 a year.
- Four of the plant's filters were the originals installed in 1926; they are being replaced in the upgrade that broke ground in 2024, after nearly a century of service.
- The 2017 tower replacement swapped a 500,000-gallon tank for a 3-million-gallon one — a sixfold jump in elevated storage for $8 million.
History6
- 1925Avon Lake's water system was established with an initial investment of $390,000 (1925 dollars) in land and facilities, serving about 1,200 residents.
- 1926The original Lake Erie filtration plant and administration buildings were built on Lake Road with a maximum capacity of 2 million gallons per day.
- 2017 (December)Began adding orthophosphate to the finished water for corrosion control, coating pipe interiors to reduce lead and copper leaching.
- 2017 (December)A new 3-million-gallon water tower bowl went into service, replacing a 500,000-gallon tank; $8 million, financed by a 0-percent Ohio EPA loan repaid through roughly $4/year per customer.
- 2018-2019West Ridge interconnection built, giving Avon Lake, the Rural Lorain County Water Authority and the City of Elyria a shared emergency backup connection rated up to 8 MGD; cost split ALRW 40% / RLCWA 40% / Elyria 20%, with up to $3 million sought from the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account.
- 2016-2019$35 million rehabilitation of the Water Reclamation Facility to expand treatment capacity.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Lake Erie surface water is drawn through two separate offshore intakes (ALRW describes them only as "two separate intakes" — no pipe diameters are published) to the Water Filtration Plant at 33370 Lake Rd. Treatment is conventional surface-water filtration: powdered activated carbon (fed year-round since it also removes non-taste-and-odor compounds, not just seasonal algal-bloom taste), coagulation/settling, filtration, chlorine disinfection, and fluoridation, plus orthophosphate for corrosion control added since September 2017.
What it costs at Avon Lake City
$2.25 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $10 a month for water.
Effective 1/1/2026, residential standard 3/4-inch meter. Avon Lake bills QUARTERLY, not monthly.
Source: avonlakewater.org
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 17.1 to 51.6 ppb; disinfection byproduct. No violation. | 36.55 ppb | 80 (MCL) | 2023 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 9.60 to 20.3 ppb; disinfection byproduct. No violation. | 16.8 ppb | 60 (MCL) | 2023 |
| Total Chlorine Range 1.20 to 1.40 ppm; disinfectant residual. | 1.39 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2023 |
| Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Range 1.0 to 1.7. Reported as the removal ratio; above 1 means compliant. | 1.32 ratio | TT | 2023 |
| Turbidity Range 0.02 to 0.20 NTU; 100% of samples met the treatment technique standard. | 0.20 (highest) NTU | TT | 2023 |
| Fluoride Range 0.69 to 1.20 ppm; naturally occurring plus additive for dental health. | 0.69 ppm | 4 (MCL) | 2023 |
| Nitrate Range 0.134 to 0.96 ppm; well below MCL. | 0.96 ppm | 10 (MCL) | 2023 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits; discharge of drilling wastes and from metal refineries. | 0.02 ppm | 2 (MCL) | 2023 |
| Lead (90th percentile, tap samples) No individual results over the action level. The "61" in the report is the number of contaminants sampled. | <2.0 ppb | 15 (action level) | 2023 |
| Copper (90th percentile, tap samples) No individual results over the action level. | 0.06 ppm | 1.3 (action level) | 2023 |
Source: avonlakewater.org
EPA compliance record · Sheffield Village
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
EPA compliance record · Avon Lake City (treats the water)
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 & plans8
Recent and current work
- 3-million-gallon water tower bowl replacement · $8 million · 2017 · completed
Replaced a 500,000-gallon tank; financed with a 0-percent Ohio EPA loan. - Orthophosphate corrosion control · 2017 · completed
Phosphate dosing began September 11, 2017, within Ohio EPA-approved guidelines. - West Ridge interconnection (ALRW / RLCWA / Elyria) · 2018-2019 · completed
Emergency backup connection rated up to 8 MGD. Up to $3 million was requested from the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account. Zero gallons were used through this connection in 2023. - Water Reclamation Facility rehabilitation · $35 million · 2016-2019 · completed
Increased treatment capacity to meet growing demand on the collection system. - Combined sewer separation program · 1974-2019 · completed
Begun under a 1974 City Master Sewer Plan after the 1972 Clean Water Act; final conversion December 2019. - Water Filtration Plant filtration and chemical feed/storage upgrade · 2024-2026 · under construction
Four new larger filters added at the end of the existing twelve, replacing units including the original 1926 filters; expanded chemical storage and conversion from chlorine to sodium hypochlorite.
Source: patch.comavonlakewater.orgavonlakewater.org
Planned or needed
- On-site sodium hypochlorite generation from salt · planned
ALRW says it is preparing to pilot the first system of its kind in Ohio, generating hypochlorite from sodium chloride on site, pending Ohio EPA approval, to reduce exposure to chlorine supply-chain disruption. - Property acquisition adjacent to the Water Filtration Plant · proposed
The Board acquired several adjacent properties to allow future capacity expansion for expected county growth.
Source: avonlakewater.org
Supply stress
Source is Lake Erie through two intakes, which the utility describes as a "virtually endless source of quality raw water" — volume is not the constraint.
Source: avonlakewater.org
Sewers at Avon Lake City
Sanitary
Avon Lake Regional Water operates the Water Reclamation Facility, serving all of Avon Lake, the northern part of Avon, and the Lorain County Rural Wastewater District (LORCO) in and around Eaton and Carlisle Townships. Rated 6.5 MGD normal flow with capacity to accept as much as 12.5 MGD in wet weather. Final effluent discharges to Lake Erie through a submerged diffused outfall extending roughly 1,200 feet offshore. The plant was rehabilitated 2016-2019 at a cost of $35 million.
Storm
Wet-weather flow was addressed through the combined-sewer separation program completed in 2019 and the added wet-weather capacity at the Water Reclamation Facility.
Serves
Sheffield Village is not the main water supplier in any ZIP code; the ZIP codes it reaches are listed below.
Present in 2 ZIP codes
- 44054 · Sheffield Lake18% of residents
- 44035 · Elyria1% 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
Sheffield Village buys its water from Rural Lorain Co. Water A, which buys from Avon Lake City.
No other system is on record buying water from Sheffield Village.
What the records show about Sheffield Village
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Sheffield Village as owned by a local government. It has 2,248 service connections and serves 4,165 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 440-949-6209.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Sheffield Village buys water that Avon Lake City treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Avon Lake City: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
Sheffield Village adds nothing of its own on that table.
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 Sheffield Village since 2015.
EPA logs 2 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
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 November 2026).
Lead and copper at the tap
For the sampling period ending December 2025, EPA's record lists the 90th-percentile lead result at Sheffield Village as 0 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027. EPA records a result below the lab's reporting level as 0, so this is the result reported, not proof that no home sampled had lead.
EPA has 9 sampling periods on file for Sheffield Village since 2016, the first ending in 2018; 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 Sheffield Village sent EPA, 2,211 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 113 |
| Not lead | 2,098 |
| All lines | 2,211 |
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 4 samples of the water entering the pipes of Sheffield Village in 2025 and measured 29 PFAS. EPA's UCMR 5 file shows no PFAS detected, PFOA and PFOS (federal limit 4 ng/L each) among them.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Avon Lake City (latest sample September 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
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 Sheffield Village's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 29 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 39.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 57.9 µg/L, from 58 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 16.5 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 21.5 µg/L and the highest single sample was 30 µg/L, from 58 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 29 µg/L (2019) | 39.1 µg/L | 57.9 µg/L | 58 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 16.5 µg/L | 21.5 µg/L | 30 µg/L | 58 |
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 Sheffield Village buys is treated by Avon Lake City, so the results below are Avon Lake City's.
Nitrate: the highest of 96 samples was 1.41 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2018; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.06 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 | 1.41 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
| Combined radium | 2 | not detected | 5 pCi/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 Avon Lake City.
Solvents and fuels
The water Sheffield Village buys is treated by Avon Lake City, so the results below are Avon Lake City'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 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 of Avon Lake City.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Sheffield Village buys is treated by Avon Lake City, so the results below are Avon Lake City's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 8 of 8 samples, highest 32.9 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine in 8 samples, alachlor in 8 samples, chromium in 8 samples, cadmium in 8 samples, mercury in 8 samples, selenium in 8 samples, thallium in 9 samples.
| 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 | 32.9 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 | 9 | 0 of 9 | 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 Avon Lake City.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 1 of 384 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Sheffield Village tested positive (0.26%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 48 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 Sheffield Village buys its water from Ashland City, a system that adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Avon Lake City, which treats the water Sheffield Village buys.
Measured fluoride: 0.92 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Avon Lake City, which supplies Sheffield Village, in 2019 (above the 0.7 mg/L level now recommended and well under the 4 mg/L limit); samples ran from 0.91 to 1.09 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 Sheffield Village, last sampled in 2025 (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
The water Sheffield Village buys is treated by Avon Lake City, so the results below are Avon Lake City's.
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 8 times in 285 raw-water samples, across 4 bloom seasons (2016 to 2025); the highest raw-water result was 0.72 µg/L on October 4, 2016. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 0.254 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (285 samples).
In all, 570 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 25, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 285 | 8 | 0.72 µg/L |
| Treated water | 285 | 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
EPA estimated the service area of Sheffield Village 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 2,827 residents are inside the boundary, 68% of the 4,165 people Sheffield Village 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.
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 2 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 OH4701203 (EPA ECHO).