Water system
Sylvania City
EPA ID OH4801303 · Lucas County · 21,618 people served · owned by a local government
Sylvania City buys its water from Toledo City Of.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Toledo Lake Erie
- Serves
- 360,000 people · Lucas County
- EPA ID
- OH4801411
About this area's water
Did you know
- Sylvania draws no raw water at all — every gallon comes finished from Toledo's Collins Park plant, which Toledo calls the largest water softening plant on Lake Erie, filtering 75 million gallons a day for about half a…
- In 2014 the toxic bloom sat over Toledo's Lake Erie intake and the resulting 'do not drink' order — August 2 to 4 — covered Sylvania alongside Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg and Ottawa Hills, emptying bottled-water shelves…
- Sylvania's 2024 report shows zero detections across 29 PFAS compounds plus lithium sampled over a 12-month period in 2023-24.
- The city keeps emergency connections to both Toledo and Lucas County; it used the Lucas County one for 0 gallons in 2024, and on average needs it about one day a year.
- Across four years of Toledo intake monitoring — 48 samples, April 2015 to March 2019 — laboratories found exactly one Cryptosporidium cell.
History4
- 2014August 2-4: microcystin from a Lake Erie harmful algal bloom over Toledo's intake triggered a 'do not drink' advisory covering Toledo and the suburbs it supplies, Sylvania among them — roughly…
- 2015-2019Toledo completed the second round of Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule source-water monitoring at its intake, April 2015 through March 2019: 48 samples tested for Giardia and…
- 2019October: Sylvania City Council voted to sign the regional water agreement with Toledo, a 40-year uniform water-supply contract, joining Toledo, Lucas County, Maumee, Perrysburg, Whitehouse, Monroe…
- 2023-2024Sylvania's system was sampled under the federal UCMR5 program and Ohio's PFAS Sampling Initiative: 29 PFAS compounds plus lithium over a 12-month period, none detected in the finished drinking water.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Sylvania treats no water of its own. It buys 100% finished water from the City of Toledo Department of Public Utilities, whose Collins Park Water Treatment Plant draws from Lake Erie's western basin, softens, filters and disinfects — Toledo describes it as the largest water softening plant on Lake…
Source: cityofsylvania.comtoledo.oh.gov
Water pressure
Not published. Neither Sylvania's CCR nor Toledo's water pages give distribution pressure figures.
What it costs
$9.45 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $71 a month for water.
City of Sylvania water rate effective 11-17-2025, as published in the Lucas County Sanitary Engineer's rate summary: $9.45 per 1,000 gallons inside the city ($70.69 per 1,000…
Source: co.lucas.oh.us
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 28.7-70.9 ppb; disinfection byproduct. The high end of the range exceeds 80% of the MCL. | 48.9 ppb | 80 | 2024 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 7.3-15.6 ppb; disinfection byproduct. | 10.9 ppb | 60 | 2024 |
| Total Chlorine Range 0.90-1.08 ppm; additive used to control microbes. | 1.06 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2024 |
| Turbidity Range 0.03-0.21 NTU. 90.9% was the lowest monthly percentage of Toledo's samples meeting the turbidity limit in 2024… | 0.21 NTU | 1 (TT); 95% of… | 2024 |
| Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Range 1.00-2.31. The running annual average ratio of TOC removed to TOC required to be removed; relates to disinfection… | 1.31 removal… | TT (ratio above… | 2024 |
| Nitrate Range <0.2-1.66 ppm; well below the MCL. | 0.88 ppm | 10 | 2024 |
| Fluoride Range 0.96-1.05 ppm; water additive to promote strong teeth. | 1.00 ppm | 4 | 2024 |
| Lead (90th percentile) No individual result over the action level; 0 of 30 samples above it. | <4 ppb | 15 (action… | 2024 |
| Copper (90th percentile) No individual result over the action level; 0 of 30 samples above it. | 0.013 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2024 |
| Sodium Range 7.47-20.90 ppm; reported for dietary-sodium awareness. | 11.67 ppm | no standard… | 2024 |
Source: cityofsylvania.com
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).
EPA compliance record · Toledo City Of (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.
Supply stress
Sylvania's exposure is entirely inherited from its source. Lake Erie's western basin sees recurring harmful algal blooms fed by phosphorus runoff from the Maumee River watershed, more than 72% of which is row-crop agriculture; that is what produced the 2014 do-not-drink advisory that shut off Sylvania's tap water. Toledo's source water…
Sewers
Sanitary
Sylvania's Sewer Division collects wastewater from homes and businesses and conveys it to a treatment facility; the city operates no wastewater treatment plant of its own, and its own materials do not name the receiving plant. Toledo's Bay View Water Reclamation Plant treats wastewater for Toledo and some surrounding suburbs before…
Storm
We found no stormwater utility fee, drainage program, or specific flooding issue for the city.
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
- 43560 · Sylvania57% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 43623 · Toledo1% 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
Sylvania City buys its water from Toledo City Of.
No other system is on record buying water from Sylvania City.
What the records show about Sylvania City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Sylvania City as owned by a local government. It has 7,362 service connections and serves 21,618 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 419-885-8969.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Sylvania City buys water that Toledo City Of treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Toledo City Of: corrosion control, chlorine dioxide, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, lime softening, ozone, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
Sylvania City 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 Sylvania 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 Sylvania 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 8 sampling periods on file for Sylvania City 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 Sylvania City sent EPA, 7,002 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 3 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 93 |
| Unknown material | 1 |
| Not lead | 6,905 |
| All lines | 7,002 |
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 Sylvania City in 2023 to 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 Toledo City Of (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 Toledo City Of as sampled, most recently March 2025.
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 Sylvania City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 60 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 60 µg/L and the highest single sample was 133 µg/L, from 128 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 12.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 14.3 µg/L and the highest single sample was 23.7 µg/L, from 128 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 60 µg/L (2019) | 60 µg/L | 133 µg/L | 128 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 12.2 µg/L | 14.3 µg/L | 23.7 µg/L | 128 |
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 Sylvania City buys is treated by Toledo City Of, so the results below are Toledo City Of's.
Nitrate: the highest of 97 samples was 4.35 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2018; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 2.21 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) | 97 | 4.35 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
| Combined radium | 1 | 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 Toledo City Of.
Solvents and fuels
The water Sylvania City buys is treated by Toledo City Of, so the results below are Toledo City Of'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 Toledo City Of.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Sylvania City buys is treated by Toledo City Of, so the results below are Toledo City Of's.
EPA's file holds results for all nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: atrazine in 6 of 26 samples, highest 0.3 µg/L (limit 3); barium in 1 of 8 samples, highest 10 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: alachlor in 26 samples, 2,4-D in 3 samples, chromium in 8 samples, cadmium in 8 samples, mercury in 8 samples, selenium in 8 samples, thallium in 8 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 26 | 6 of 26 | 0.3 µg/L | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 26 | 0 of 26 | not detected | 0 |
| 2,4-D | Farm chemical | 70 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | 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 | 1 of 8 | 10 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 of Toledo City Of.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 2,144 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Sylvania City tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 299 did.
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 Sylvania City buys its water from Toledo City Of, 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 Toledo City Of, which treats the water Sylvania City buys.
Measured fluoride: 0.85 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Toledo City Of, which supplies Sylvania City, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.85 to 1.08 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 Sylvania 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
The water Sylvania City buys is treated by Toledo City Of, so the results below are Toledo City Of'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 95 times in 464 raw-water samples, across 11 bloom seasons (2016 to 2026); the highest raw-water result was 9.91 µg/L on July 30, 2019. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 4.78 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (433 samples).
In all, 897 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 25, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 464 | 95 | 9.91 µg/L |
| Treated water | 433 | 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 Sylvania City comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 19,789 residents are inside the boundary, 92% of the 21,618 people Sylvania 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 — 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 OH4801303 (EPA ECHO).
Sylvania City's own pages: dam.assets.ohio.gov
Notable facts: cityofsylvania.com, toledo.oh.gov, circleofblue.org, toledoblade.com
History: cityofsylvania.com, wtol.com, circleofblue.org, toledo.oh.gov
Water quality: cityofsylvania.com
Rates: co.lucas.oh.us
Sewers: cityofsylvania.com, co.lucas.oh.us, toledo.oh.gov
Treatment: cityofsylvania.com, toledo.oh.gov
Supply stress: cityofsylvania.com, circleofblue.org
