Water system
Coldwater Village
EPA ID OH5400112 · Mercer County · 4,774 people served · owned by a local government
Coldwater Village treats its own water from Groundwater wells (8 wells).
The system's record
- Active wells
- 8
- Serves
- 4,774 people · Mercer County
- EPA ID
- OH5400112
About this area's water
Did you know
- Coldwater was originally called 'Buzzard's Glory,' after early settler David Buzzard's general store, before it was platted in 1859 and renamed for nearby Coldwater Creek.
- Coldwater does not fluoridate its water and does not need to: the 2025 CCR notes fluoride occurs naturally in the village's well water at about 1.3 ppm, close to the level utilities normally dose to.
- The village's 2025 water quality report openly discloses that a laboratory error left Radium-228 untested for six straight years (2020-2025); Coldwater retested in March 2026 and found 0.45 pCi/L, well under the 5.0…
- Coldwater's 8 wells sit in two well fields at the edge of the village near West Sycamore and South Cedar Streets, under 36 to 78 feet of low-permeability cover that Ohio EPA credits for the aquifer's low contamination…
History5
- 1838Settlement founded; originally called 'Buzzard's Glory' after David Buzzard, who operated a general store.
- 1847A post office opened in the community.
- 1859The village was formally platted and took the Coldwater name, from nearby Coldwater Creek.
- 2025One of 20 lead-and-copper compliance samples exceeded the copper action level, with a 90th-percentile result of 0.68 ppm; no violation was triggered.
- 2026Village disclosed in its 2025 CCR that a lab error left Radium-228 untested from 2020 through 2025, and reported retesting on March 4, 2026 at 0.45 pCi/L against a 5.0 pCi/L MCL.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Village-owned groundwater system supplied by 8 wells in two well fields near the corner of West Sycamore Street and South Cedar Street. The water department is run from the Municipal Center at 610 W. Sycamore Street under superintendent Brian Bruggeman, an Ohio EPA Class I operator. The 2025 CCR…
Source: villageofcoldwater.comvillageofcoldwater.com
Water pressure
Not published. Neither the village website nor the 2025 CCR states a distribution system pressure.
What it costs
$8.00 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $32 a month for water.
From the village's own 'How is my water/sewer bill calculated?' document (billed quarterly): WATER $8.00 per 1,000 gallons (the document writes it as '.008 cents per gallon'…
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) The highest single detection, 72.5 ppb, is about 91% of the MCL - the closest approach to any limit in this system's… | 57.15 (range… ppb | 80 ppb MCL | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | 8.55 (range… ppb | 60 ppb MCL | 2025 |
| Total chlorine | 1.12 (range… ppm | 4 ppm MRDL | 2025 |
| Fluoride The CCR states fluoride occurs naturally in Coldwater's well water. | 1.3 ppm | 4 ppm MCL | 2024 |
| Copper 1 of 20 samples was above the 1.3 ppm action level; the 90th percentile stayed below it, so no violation. Attributed to… | 0.68 (90th… ppm | 1.3 ppm action… | 2025 |
| Lead 0 of 20 samples above the action level. | 0 (90th… ppb | 15 ppb action… | 2025 |
| Gross alpha | 4.25 pCi/L | 15 pCi/L MCL | 2021 |
| Radium-228 The CCR discloses that a lab error meant Radium-228 was not tested at all from 2020 through 2025; the village tested on… | 0.45 pCi/L | 5.0 pCi/L MCL | 2026 |
Source: villageofcoldwater.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.
3 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 3 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
Supply stress
Low. Ohio EPA's source water assessment, summarized in the 2025 CCR, finds that the aquifer supplying Coldwater has a LOW susceptibility to contamination, based on a thick protective layer of low-permeability material overlying the aquifer, the significant depth of the aquifer (36 to 78 feet below ground surface), and no evidence that…
Source: villageofcoldwater.com
Sewers
Sanitary
Village-operated. Coldwater runs its own wastewater plant at 618 Hardin Street under superintendent Don Bruns, an Ohio EPA Class III operator, and publishes a Sanitary Sewer Overflow annual report. Sewer service is billed on the same quarterly bill as water at $7.00 per 1,000 gallons with a 6,000 gallon quarterly minimum. Plant capacity…
Storm
The village bills a storm sewer surcharge of $6.00 per quarter on every water/sewer bill, so storm drainage is funded as a distinct line item. Whether the storm system is fully separated from the sanitary sewers is not stated in any village document found.
Source: villageofcoldwater.comvillageofcoldwater.comvillageofcoldwater.com
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
- 45828 · Coldwater74% 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
Coldwater Village does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Coldwater Village.
What the records show about Coldwater Village
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Coldwater Village as owned by a local government. It has 1,916 service connections and serves 4,774 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 2025. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 419-678-4881.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Coldwater Village: aeration, corrosion control, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, ion-exchange softening, 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 Coldwater Village since 2015.
EPA logs 3 violations of any kind since 2020: 3 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 September 2026).
Lead and copper at the tap
In the sampling period ending December 2025, the 90th-percentile lead result at Coldwater Village 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 ppb, in the period ending December 2018.
EPA has 8 sampling periods on file for Coldwater 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 Coldwater Village sent EPA, 1,963 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 1,963 |
| All lines | 1,963 |
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 2 samples of the water entering the pipes of Coldwater Village 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 Coldwater Village (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 Coldwater Village's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 69.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 74.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 99.4 µg/L, from 58 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 11 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 18.9 µg/L and the highest single sample was 27.7 µg/L, from 56 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 69.6 µg/L (2019) | 74.1 µg/L | 99.4 µg/L | 58 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 11 µg/L | 18.9 µg/L | 27.7 µg/L | 56 |
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 was not detected in 8 samples through 2019 (limit 10 mg/L as nitrogen; above 10 is unsafe for infants).
Arsenic: the highest of 35 samples was 4.2 µg/L (limit 10); detections averaged 3.7; none over the limit.
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 8 | not detected | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 35 | 4.2 µg/L | 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 3 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | 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. Not detected: atrazine in 2 samples, alachlor in 2 samples, chromium in 3 samples, cadmium in 3 samples, barium in 3 samples, mercury in 3 samples, selenium in 3 samples, thallium in 3 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 2 | 0 of 2 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | 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, 1 of 481 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Coldwater Village tested positive (0.21%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 60 did. E. coli was found in 1 of 19 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 Coldwater Village has fluoride from natural sources at a level higher than what is needed to prevent tooth decay. The level it reports is 1.4 mg/L.
EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Coldwater Village.
Measured fluoride: 1.34 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2018 (above the target); samples ran from 1.27 to 1.34 mg/L across 3 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 found in 2 of 2 UCMR 5 samples at Coldwater Village, highest 49 µg/L; detections averaged 42.5, last sampled in 2024.
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.
Water and sewer bills
Ohio EPA's 2023 rate survey puts the water bill at Coldwater Village for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $480 a year, about $40 a month.
The sewer bill in the same survey is $420 a year at 5,000 gallons a month.
| Use | Water, per year | Sewer, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2,500 gallons a month | $240 | $210 |
| 5,000 gallons a month | $480 | $420 |
| 8,000 gallons a month | $768 | $672 |
The survey lists it as “Coldwater”. 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
EPA estimated the service area of Coldwater 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 4,780 residents are inside the boundary, 100% of the 4,774 people Coldwater 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.
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
EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH5400112 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: en.wikipedia.org, villageofcoldwater.com
History: en.wikipedia.org, villageofcoldwater.com
Water quality: villageofcoldwater.com
Rates: villageofcoldwater.com, villageofcoldwater.com
Sewers: villageofcoldwater.com, villageofcoldwater.com, villageofcoldwater.com
Treatment: villageofcoldwater.com, villageofcoldwater.com
Supply stress: villageofcoldwater.com
