Water system
Waterville City
EPA ID OH4801503 · Lucas County · 6,500 people served · owned by a local government
Waterville City buys its water from Bowling Green City.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Maumee River, Bowling Green Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Reservoir
Maumee River - Serves
- 31,578 people · Wood County
- EPA ID
- OH8700311
City pumps Maumee River water into its 170-million-gallon reservoir when river quality is good, then treats from the reservoir; confirms the SDWIS 'INTAKE RESERVOIR'/'INTAKE MAUMEE RIVER' entries.
About this area's water
Did you know
- Waterville keeps an emergency connection to Toledo's water system at Waterville-Monclova and Dutch roads that, in the city's own words, has never been used - it exists purely in case the Bowling Green supply is lost for…
- The water arrives by way of a 170-million-gallon above-ground reservoir: Bowling Green pulls from the Maumee only when the river is running clean, then treats it through both a conventional train and a reverse-osmosis…
- Platted in 1830, Waterville waited 181 years to become a legal city - it incorporated as one in 2011.
- Ohio's 2020 statewide PFAS survey found none of the six tested compounds in Bowling Green's finished water, but 2024 unregulated monitoring picked up trace PFBA, PFHxA and PFPeA in the low parts per trillion.
- The 2025 report carries an unusual footnote: the unregulated-contaminant table was added as a correction for information missing from the previous year's report.
History5
- 1830Waterville is platted by settler John Pray on the west bank of the upper Maumee River.
- 2011Waterville, long a village, incorporates as a city.
- 2020Bowling Green's supply, which serves Waterville, is sampled under Ohio EPA's statewide PFAS Sampling Initiative; none of the six PFAS compounds tested were found in the finished drinking water.
- 2024The Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant participates in the fifth round of the federal Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5), detecting trace unregulated PFAS compounds.
- 2026In February the city publishes its lead service line maps - a combined map plus seven area maps, A through G - under the federal Lead and Copper Rule.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Waterville treats no raw water. It buys finished water from the City of Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant, which draws surface water from an intake on the Maumee River only when the river supply is of high quality and banks it in a 170-million-gallon above-ground reservoir. Bowling Green runs two…
Source: waterville.orgbgohio.govdata.epa.gov
Water pressure
Not published. No pressure zone or psi figure appears in the city's utilities pages or in the 2025 consumer confidence report.
Source: waterville.orgwaterville.org
What it costs
Not published. The city's utilities page covers billing mechanics only - bills mailed the last day of each month and due on the 15th, a $100 deposit on new accounts credited back…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Bowling Green's 2025 result for the water Waterville buys; range of detections 34.3-85.7, so individual sites exceeded… | 66.6 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Supplier (Bowling Green) result; range 8.3-27.7. | 23.1 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Nitrate Supplier result; range under 0.2 to 7.3. High for a finished water and a direct signature of agricultural runoff in the… | 7.3 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Fluoride Supplier result; range 0.87-1.18. | 1.03 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Barium Supplier result. | 0.013 ppm | 2 | 2025 |
| Turbidity 0.10 NTU is Bowling Green's highest 2025 reading (range 0.02-0.10). Waterville's CCR separately states that 100% of its… | 0.10 NTU… NTU / %… | treatment… | 2025 |
| Total organic carbon (TOC) removal ratio Supplier result; range 2.4-3.4. Bowling Green remained in compliance with TOC removal requirements. | 2.9 ratio | treatment… | 2025 |
| Total chlorine Supplier result; range 1.3-1.6. | 1.5 ppm | MRDL 4.0 | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) Supplier result; 0 of 31 samples above the action level. | <4 ppb | action level 15 | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) Supplier result; 0 of 31 samples above the action level. | 0.029 ppm | action level 1.3 | 2025 |
Source: bgohio.govwaterville.org
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.
EPA compliance record · Bowling Green 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.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 2 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans2
Recent and current work
- Lead service line inventory and area maps · 2026 · completed
The city published a combined lead service line and fixture map plus seven area maps (A through G) in February 2026 under federal and state Lead and Copper… - Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant filter and membrane upgrades · 2025 · completed
The supplier's project, not Waterville's: six rapid sand filters rebuilt from the bottoms up with air added to the backwash cycle, and two microfiltration…
Source: waterville.orgbgohio.gov
Supply stress
The whole supply comes from the Maumee River, the largest and most nutrient-loaded tributary of western Lake Erie. Bowling Green's source water assessment calls the intake susceptible to contamination from agricultural runoff, industrial stormwater, wastewater discharges, landfills and oil and gas wells, and says the city has…
Source: bgohio.govdata.epa.gov
Sewers
Sanitary
Waterville operates its own sanitary sewer system: the city issues sanitary sewer inspection permits and abandon-septic-tank permits, and rates are set by Chapter 935 of the codified ordinances. The wastewater plant's operator, capacity and receiving stream are not stated on any city page.
Storm
The city runs a separate storm sewer system - it issues storm sewer tap inspection permits and regulates the system under Chapter 941, Storm Sewer System Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection Control, alongside Chapter 939 on erosion and sediment control.…
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
- 43566 · Waterville73% 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
Waterville City buys its water from Bowling Green City.
No other system is on record buying water from Waterville City.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 1 ZIP code 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
Notable facts: waterville.org, bgohio.gov, en.wikipedia.org
History: waterville.org, waterville.org, en.wikipedia.org
Water quality: bgohio.gov, waterville.org
Water pressure: waterville.org, waterville.org
Capital projects: waterville.org, bgohio.gov
Rates: waterville.org, waterville.org, waterville.org, codelibrary.amlegal.com
Sewers: waterville.org, codelibrary.amlegal.com
Treatment: waterville.org, bgohio.gov, data.epa.gov
Supply stress: bgohio.gov, data.epa.gov