Water system
NAWA
EPA ID OH5553612 · Miami County · 29,974 people served
NAWA treats its own water from Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells).
The system's record
- Aquifer
- Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer
- Active wells
- 7
- Serves
- 29,974 people · Miami County
- EPA ID
- OH5553612
About this area's water
Did you know
- NAWA is a joint venture of Tipp City and Vandalia, created in March 2002 as the T/V Water Authority; Tipp City staff run the plant while Vandalia handles day-to-day financial management, and capacity is split 60/40 in…
- Unlike most small groundwater systems that simply filter and chlorinate, NAWA pushes its well water through nanofiltration membranes to strip out hardness and viruses before disinfection.
- Twelve monitoring wells have been watching the groundwater upgradient of the wellfield as an 'early warning' network since 1996, and special zoning has protected the 1-year time-of-travel zone around the wells since…
- Tipp City's combined water-and-sewer cost of $293.63 per quarter sits below the 71-jurisdiction regional median of $342.78 in the 2026 Piqua rate survey, and its water rate did not increase at all from 2025 even as the…
- The aquifer NAWA taps has no confining layer at all — the sand and gravel runs continuously to the surface and the water table sits just 5 to 15 feet down, which is why Ohio EPA rates it highly susceptible to…
History5
- 1994Tipp City developed a Well Head Protection Program inventorying potential contamination sources within a 5-year 'time of travel' zone around the wells; special zoning was adopted for the 1-year zone.
- 1996Tipp City implemented a ground water monitoring protection program; twelve monitoring wells upgradient of the well field now serve as an 'early warning' system.
- 2002Vandalia and Tipp City created the joint water authority in March, originally named the T/V Water Authority, later the Northern Area Water Authority (NAWA), with capacity split 60% Vandalia / 40%…
- 2004The roughly $15 million NAWA nanofiltration/membrane-softening plant (7 MGD as designed; later cited at 7.7 MGD) went into operation, with Tipp City staff operating the plant and Vandalia handling…
- 2026In the Piqua annual rate survey, Tipp City's water charge held flat from 2025 at $183.74 per quarter while its sewer charge rose to $109.89; the survey-wide combined average across 71 jurisdictions…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Groundwater from seven production wells in buried sand-and-gravel aquifers associated with the Great Miami River is pumped to the NAWA plant, run through sand filters for iron and manganese removal, then through nanofiltration membranes to reduce or remove hardness, viruses and other contaminants.…
Source: tippcityohio.govamtaorg.com
Water pressure
Not published. No psi figure appears in the 2025 CCR or on Tipp City's utility pages. The only pressure-related public record found is that the 2026 CR25A water main extension was…
What it costs
$8.17 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $61 a month for water.
Derived from the City of Piqua 2026 Annual Rate Survey, which prices every jurisdiction at 22,500 gallons (3,000 cubic feet) per quarter. Tipp City water = $183.74/quarter, i.e.…
Source: tippcityohio.govtippcityohio.gov
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Chlorination byproduct. Range of detects 25.1-42.4. | 42.4 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Chlorination byproduct. Range of detects 5.0-9.30. | 9.3 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Total Chlorine Annual average; range 1.07-1.14. Water additive used to control microbes. | 1.14 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Fluoride Additive for dental health. Range 0.81-1.22. | 1.22 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Nitrate (as N) Runoff from fertilizer use. Low, but the source water susceptibility analysis flags nitrate impacts as a known risk. | 0.45 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits. | 0.07 ppm | 2 | 2024 |
| Beryllium Discharge from metal refineries. | 0.10 ppb | 4 | 2024 |
| Nickel Erosion of natural deposits. | 3.2 ppb | 100 | 2024 |
| Lead (90th percentile) Zero of 30 samples over the action level. | 3.20 ppb | 15 (AL) | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) Zero of 30 samples over the action level. | 0.446 ppm | 1.3 (AL) | 2025 |
Source: tippcityohio.gov
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 3.2 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
Projects & plans3
Recent and current work
- NAWA membrane-softening / nanofiltration water treatment plant · $15 million · 2004 · completed
Estimated $15M covering the treatment facility, wellfield improvements and transmission line; 7 MGD as originally reported, cited at 7.7 MGD in later trade… - CR25A 12-inch NAWA water main extension · $448,283 · 2026 · under construction
Council authorized a contract with Ranger Earthworks LLC of Casstown on April 22, 2026. Ties the NAWA main up County Road 25A to improve water pressure for…
Source: miamivalleytoday.comwaterworld.com
Planned or needed
- Tri-Cities North Regional Wastewater Authority treatment plant expansion and rehabilitation · $217 million · 2026 · planned
Would raise design capacity from 11.2 MGD to 17.3 MGD and address aging equipment at the 1985 plant. The authority is seeking roughly $217 million through Ohio…
Source: hhoh.org
Supply stress
NAWA's Ohio EPA source water susceptibility analysis rates the aquifer as HIGHLY susceptible to contamination, for five stated reasons: water quality results already indicate impacts of nitrates; depth to water is only 5-15 feet below ground surface; the sand and gravel aquifer material is continuous to the surface and the soil is sandy…
Source: tippcityohio.gov
Sewers
Sanitary
Wastewater from Tipp City, Vandalia and Huber Heights is treated by the Tri-Cities North Regional Wastewater Authority (TCA), a joint venture of the three cities serving about 67,000 residents. The plant was built in 1985, has a design flow capacity of 11.2 MGD and is currently operating at about 96% of that capacity. Facilities include…
Storm
Tipp City operates a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) regulated by Ohio EPA under the Phase II stormwater program. Many of the city's storm sewers drain directly to local creeks and the Great Miami River; storm sewers do not go to the wastewater…
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
- 45371 · Tipp City43% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 45373 · Troy1% 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
NAWA does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
1 system on record buys water from NAWA: Miami Co-deer Cliff Run.
What the records show about NAWA
Who runs it
EPA's record says NAWA has 10,531 service connections and serves 29,974 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 937-506-3193.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for NAWA: aeration, corrosion control, chlorine disinfection, dechlorination, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, and membrane 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 NAWA since 2015.
EPA logs no violations of any kind for NAWA since 2020.
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 NAWA was 3.2 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
EPA has 4 sampling periods on file for NAWA since 2016, the first ending in 2016; 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 NAWA sent EPA, 10,148 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 1 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 28 |
| Unknown material | 2,211 |
| Not lead | 7,908 |
| All lines | 10,148 |
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 NAWA in 2023 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 NAWA (latest sample July 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 NAWA as sampled, most recently July 2026.
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 NAWA's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 34.4 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 38.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 53.5 µg/L, from 37 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 5 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 7.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 11.3 µg/L, from 37 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 34.4 µg/L (2019) | 38.1 µg/L | 53.5 µg/L | 37 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 5 µg/L | 7.8 µg/L | 11.3 µg/L | 37 |
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: the highest of 8 samples was 0.7 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2018; in 2019, the last year sampled, nitrate was not detected. 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) | 8 | 0.7 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.
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 6 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 6 | 0 of 6 | 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. Detected: barium in 3 of 3 samples, highest 87 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine in 2 samples, alachlor in 2 samples, chromium in 3 samples, cadmium 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 | 3 of 3 | 87 µg/L | 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, 5 of 2,397 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at NAWA tested positive (0.21%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 301 did. E. coli was found in 1 of 2,103 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 NAWA adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at NAWA.
Measured fluoride: 1.1 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2018 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.94 to 1.1 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 not detected in 2 UCMR 5 samples at NAWA, last sampled in 2023 (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.
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of NAWA 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 10,376 residents are inside the boundary, 35% of the 29,974 people NAWA reports serving. With so much of its territory outside the polygon, part of the system shows on the map as private wells.
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 OH5553612 (EPA ECHO).
NAWA's own pages: tippcityohio.gov
Notable facts: tippcityohio.gov, waterworld.com, tippcityohio.gov
History: tippcityohio.gov, waterworld.com, tippcityohio.gov
Water quality: tippcityohio.gov
Planned work: hhoh.org
Water pressure: tippcityohio.gov, miamivalleytoday.com
Capital projects: miamivalleytoday.com, waterworld.com
Rates: tippcityohio.gov, tippcityohio.gov
Sewers: hhoh.org, tippcityohio.gov, tippcityohio.gov
Treatment: tippcityohio.gov, amtaorg.com
Supply stress: tippcityohio.gov
