Water system
Youngstown City
EPA ID OH5002303 · Mahoning County · 130,530 people served · owned by a local government
Youngstown City buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Meander Creek Reservoir, Berlin Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Meander Creek Reservoir
Berlin Reservoir - EPA ID
- OH7801811
About this area's water
Did you know
- Meander Creek Reservoir is seven miles long with 40 miles of shoreline across 2,010 acres, holding 10 billion gallons at spillway crest plus a billion more behind an inflatable rubber bladder dam.
- MVSD serves about 220,000 people across Youngstown, Niles, McDonald, Girard, Canfield, Mineral Ridge, Lordstown, Craig Beach and parts of ten townships — more than Youngstown's own population.
- The valley drank the most water during the steel era: MVSD's record was 40.48 MGD in 1978-79, and it now treats about 27.3 MGD from the same 1932 reservoir.
- Youngstown's 2025 lead sampling produced a 90th-percentile result of ND, yet one of 104 taps came back at 180 ppb — twelve times the 15 ppb action level.
History4
- 1926The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District was formed under Ohio's sanitary district law by its member cities, Youngstown and Niles, to build a shared reservoir supply.
- 1932MVSD began delivering water to Youngstown and Niles on July 9, 1932 from the new Meander Creek Reservoir; McDonald is served as an agent of the members.
- 1978-1979MVSD's highest recorded output, averaging 40.48 million gallons a day, still well under the plant's 60 MGD design capacity.
- 2019-2022MVSD ran repeated fracking-waste and PFAS lab tests on Meander Creek Reservoir water and posted the results publicly amid shale drilling in the watershed.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Youngstown treats none of its own water: MVSD draws surface water from Meander Creek Reservoir and treats about 27.3 MGD by chemical softening, disinfection, fluoridation, taste-and-odor control, mixing, settling, filtration and pumping.
Water pressure
not published — no psi figure in the 2025 CCR; Youngstown moves about 17.4 MGD through 750 miles of pipeline, and MVSD's 60 MGD plant runs near 27.3 MGD.
What it costs
Youngstown's chart (eff. Feb 1, 2026) gives city water as (5.17034 x consumption) + $2.81 for 4-33 units, but never defines the unit, so no $/1,000 gal is stated.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM (total trihalomethanes) Disinfection byproduct; range 40.30-90.50, individual samples above the MCL. No violation. | 72.63 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| HAA5 (haloacetic acids) Disinfection byproduct; range 13.60-36.70. | 29.00 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile, Round 2) 1 of 104 sites above the action level; range ND-180.00 ppb. No violation. | ND ppb | 15 (action… | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile, Round 2) 0 of 104 sites above the action level. | 0.07 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2025 |
| Fluoride Added to promote strong teeth plus natural deposits; range 0.85-1.10. | 1.00 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Nitrate Fertilizer and septic runoff; range 0.10-0.56, far below the MCL. | 0.33 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Chlorine Disinfectant residual; range 1.87-3.11. | 2.25 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Turbidity Filtration performance measure; treatment-technique standard met. | 0.09 NTU | TT | 2025 |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2026 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 2 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 · Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (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.
Projects & plans5
Recent and current work
- Buckeye Plat water main and lead service line replacement · $8.9 million · 2026 · under construction
Water main and lead services for 720+ homes on the southeast side near Midlothian Blvd and Sheridan Rd; council raised the appropriation to $8.9M. - Crandall Park area lead service line replacement · $5.8 million · 2026 · planned
About 470 lead lines around Gypsy Lane, Fifth Ave, Tod Lane and Belmont Ave; 50% Ohio EPA principal forgiveness on the engineer's estimate. - Drinking Water Assistance Fund lead line replacement · $500,000 · 2026 · planned
229 lead service lines to be replaced with an Ohio EPA Drinking Water Assistance Fund grant. - Vacuum excavation truck purchase · $1.2 million · 2025 · completed
A $1.2M congressional direct spending grant bought the water department's first vac truck in December 2025 for lead service line work.
Planned or needed
- Glenwood Avenue lead service line replacement · $13 million · 2026 · planned
About 800 lead lines from Midlothian Blvd to Almyra Ave on the South Side, funded by an Ohio EPA WSRLA loan carrying 50% principal forgiveness.
Supply stress
Supply is ample — MVSD's 60 MGD plant runs near 27.3 MGD. The pressure is on quality and pipes: 2025 TTHM averaged 72.63 ppb against an 80 ppb MCL with single samples reaching 90.5 ppb, and lead services remain, one 2025 tap reading 180 ppb.
Sewers
Sanitary
Youngstown bills its own city sewer service — (9.09 x consumption) + $41.73 a month as of Feb. 2026.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 12 ZIP codes
Serves
Main water supplier in 12 ZIP codes
- 44503 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44504 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44507 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44509 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44510 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44511 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44555 · Youngstown100% of residents
- 44515 · Austintown Township and Youngstown99% of residents
- 44506 · Youngstown99% of residents
- 44502 · Youngstown97% of residents
- 44505 · Youngstown88% of residents
- 44512 · Boardman Township and Youngstown76% of residents
Also present in 5 more ZIP codes
- 44406 · Canfield Township and Canfield23% of residents
- 44514 · Poland Township and Youngstown10% of residents
- 44440 · Weathersfield Township and Mineral Ridge9% of residents
- 44437 · Mcdonald and Mc Donald1% of residents
- 44436 · Poland Township and Lowellville1% 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
Youngstown City buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
2 systems on record buy water from Youngstown City: Canfield City, Jackson/milton Metro Water District.
What the records show about Youngstown City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Youngstown City as owned by a local government. It has 52,603 service connections and serves 130,530 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 330-743-5338.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Youngstown City buys water that Mahoning Valley Sanitary District treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Mahoning Valley Sanitary District: chloramine disinfection, corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, lime softening, 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 Youngstown City since 2015.
EPA logs 2 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 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 June 2026, the 90th-percentile lead result at Youngstown 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.
The highest result on file is 2.2 ppb, in the period ending June 2024.
EPA has 14 sampling periods on file for Youngstown City since 2016, the first ending in 2017; 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 Youngstown City sent EPA, 51,783 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 735 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 2,227 |
| Unknown material | 11,718 |
| Not lead | 37,103 |
| All lines | 51,783 |
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 6 samples of the water entering the pipes of Youngstown City in 2023 to 2024 and measured 29 PFAS.
The highest PFOA or PFOS result, 19.3 ng/L, is at or above the federal limit of 4 ng/L that EPA set in 2024. Systems have until 2029 to comply, and in May 2026 EPA proposed letting systems apply for two more years. One sample over the limit is not a violation: compliance is judged on a running annual average.
The highest PFAS results were PFOS 19.3 ng/L and PFHxS 7.5 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (latest sample May 2021). The highest result was PFOS at 10.9 ppt (ppt is the same unit as ng/L), against Ohio's action level of 70 ppt. Those action levels are the ones Ohio EPA used for the survey; the 2024 federal limit for PFOA and PFOS is 4 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's current sampling status map lists 1 plant of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District as sampled, most recently July 2026.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | not detected | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | 19.3 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
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 Youngstown City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 53.1 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 71.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 121.6 µg/L, from 256 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 23.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 43.7 µg/L and the highest single sample was 68 µg/L, from 248 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 53.1 µg/L (2019) | 71.8 µg/L | 121.6 µg/L | 256 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 23.2 µg/L | 43.7 µg/L | 68 µg/L | 248 |
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 Youngstown City buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District's.
Nitrate: the highest of 187 samples was 0.71 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 0.47 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 3 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 187 | 0.71 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 3 | 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Solvents and fuels
The water Youngstown City buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District'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 13 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Youngstown City buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: atrazine in 3 of 12 samples, highest 0.21 µg/L (limit 3); barium in 3 of 4 samples, highest 13 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: alachlor in 12 samples, chromium in 4 samples, cadmium in 4 samples, mercury in 4 samples, selenium in 4 samples, thallium in 4 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 12 | 3 of 12 | 0.21 µg/L | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 12 | 0 of 12 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 4 | 3 of 4 | 13 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 2 of 12,390 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Youngstown City tested positive (0.02%); in 2019, the last year on file, 1 of 1,524 did. E. coli was never found in the 4 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 Youngstown City buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which treats the water Youngstown City buys.
Measured fluoride: 1.01 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which supplies Youngstown City, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.87 to 1.12 mg/L across 4 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 Youngstown 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 Youngstown City buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District'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 2 times in 220 raw-water samples, across 2 bloom seasons (2021 to 2023); the highest raw-water result was 0.335 µg/L on November 9, 2021. There has been no raw-water detection since 2024.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (78 samples).
In all, 298 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 220 | 2 | 0.335 µg/L |
| Treated water | 78 | 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).
Water and sewer bills
Ohio EPA's 2023 rate survey puts the water bill at Youngstown City for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $488 a year, about $41 a month.
The sewer bill in the same survey is $636 a year at 5,000 gallons a month.
| Use | Water, per year | Sewer, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2,500 gallons a month | $281 | $437 |
| 5,000 gallons a month | $488 | $636 |
| 8,000 gallons a month | $737 | $1,018 |
The survey lists it as “Youngstown”. 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
The service area drawn on the map for Youngstown City comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 129,577 residents are inside the boundary, 99% of the 130,530 people Youngstown 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 — 17 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 OH5002303 (EPA ECHO).
Youngstown City's own pages: youngstownohio.gov, meanderwater.org, data.epa.gov