Water system
Dresden
EPA ID OH6000212 · Muskingum County · 2,000 people served
Dresden treats its own water from Groundwater wells (3 wells).
The system's record
- Active wells
- 3
- Serves
- 2,000 people · Muskingum County
- EPA ID
- OH6000212
About this area's water
Did you know
- Dresden sits on or near the site of Wakatomika, a Shawnee village burned in 1774 during Lord Dunmore's War.
- A 1,000-foot suspension bridge built in 1852 across the Muskingum River at Dresden was reportedly the third suspension bridge ever built in the United States; it was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1913.
- Federal drinking-water records list Dresden's public water system as privately owned.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
History5
- 1799First settlers (Jonathan Cass and Seth Adams) claimed land in the area that became Dresden, on/near the former Shawnee village of Wakatomika.
- 1835Village of Dresden incorporated (March 9).
- 1852A 1,000-foot suspension bridge, reportedly the third suspension bridge built in the United States, was completed over the Muskingum River.
- 1913The Great Flood of 1913 destroyed the 1852 suspension bridge.
- 2016EPA SDWIS records show a monitoring/reporting violation opening in the water system in December 2015-January 2016, returned to compliance by September 2016.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Groundwater from 3 wells.
What it costs
EPA's federal inventory lists this drinking-water system's owner type as "Private".
Source: villageofdresden.com
Water quality & impurities2
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring/reporting violations Two non-health-based MR violations, both returned to compliance by 2016, per EPA SDWIS. | N/A violation | N/A | |
| Yearly water quality report (inadequate) | N/A violation | N/A | 2024 |
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).
Projects & plans1
Planned or needed
- USDA Rural Development grant for wastewater infrastructure · $1.3 million · unknown
Supply stress
Small groundwater drinking-water system (~2,000 population served, 950 service connections per EPA record) drawing from 3 wells; an open violation since December 2024 for an inadequate yearly water quality report suggests administrative/compliance strain on the private owner.
Sewers
Sanitary
Confirmed via Ohio EPA NPDES permit renewal (Public Notice 204116, June 2024): the Village of Dresden operates its own "Village of Dresden WWTP" at 30 Lock Street, a Class II treatment works with a 400,000 gpd (0.40 MGD) design flow, discharging to the Muskingum River at River Mile 91.7 under Ohio EPA Permit 0PB00012*ND.
Source: dam.assets.ohio.gov
Serves
Main water supplier in 2 ZIP codes
- 43842 · Cass Township and Trinway95% of residents
- 43821 · Dresden39% 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
Dresden does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Dresden.
What the records show about Dresden
Who runs it
EPA's record says Dresden has 950 service connections and serves 2,000 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 2023. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 740-891-7137.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Dresden: aeration, corrosion control, chlorine disinfection, and iron and manganese removal.
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 Dresden 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 November 2026).
Lead and copper at the tap
For the sampling period ending December 2025, EPA's record lists the 90th-percentile lead result at Dresden as 0 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027. EPA records a result below the lab's reporting level as 0, so this is the result reported, not proof that no home sampled had lead.
EPA has 9 sampling periods on file for Dresden 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 Dresden sent EPA, 963 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 14 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 19 |
| Unknown material | 350 |
| Not lead | 580 |
| All lines | 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
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Dresden (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 Dresden as sampled, most recently February 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 Dresden's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 19 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 30.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 46.1 µg/L, from 15 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 0 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 3.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 7.5 µg/L, from 15 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 19 µg/L (2019) | 30.8 µg/L | 46.1 µg/L | 15 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 0 µg/L | 3.8 µg/L | 7.5 µg/L | 15 |
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 1.58 mg/L (as nitrogen), in 2019, the last year sampled. 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 | 1.58 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 3 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
| Combined radium | 1 | 1.1 pCi/L | 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.
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 1 of 3 samples, highest 107 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 | 1 of 3 | 107 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, 0 of 188 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Dresden tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 24 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 Dresden has fluoride from natural sources, but at a level below what is recommended for preventing tooth decay, and does not adjust it. The level it reports is 0.1 mg/L.
EPA's treatment table lists no fluoridation step at Dresden.
Measured fluoride: every sample at the plant's entry points in 2018 was below the 0.1 mg/L reporting limit; detected samples in earlier years ran from 0.09 to 0.1 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.
Water and sewer bills
Ohio EPA's 2023 rate survey puts the water bill at Dresden for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $384 a year, about $32 a month.
The sewer bill in the same survey is $331 a year at 5,000 gallons a month.
| Use | Water, per year | Sewer, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2,500 gallons a month | $290 | $236 |
| 5,000 gallons a month | $384 | $331 |
| 8,000 gallons a month | $498 | $444 |
The survey lists it as “Dresden”. 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 Dresden comes from the utility's own map.
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 OH6000212 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: en.wikipedia.org
History: en.wikipedia.org
Rates: villageofdresden.com
Sewers: dam.assets.ohio.gov