Water system
Noble County Water Authority
EPA ID OH6100503 · Noble County · 2,368 people served
Noble County Water Authority buys its water from Noble Water Company.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Wolf Run Lake, Caldwell Lake
- Raw intakes
- Caldwell Wolf Run Lake I
Caldwell Caldwell Lake I - Serves
- 3,300 people · Noble County
- EPA ID
- OH6100011
About this area's water
Did you know
- Noble County Water Authority's primary source, Wolf Run Lake, sits inside Wolf Run State Park, a 220-acre lake acquired by the state in 1963 and dedicated as a park in 1968.
- Belle Valley's history includes the May 1913 Imperial No. 3 coal-mine explosion, which killed 15 miners in a village of only about 1,000 people at the time.
- The authority relies on purchased wholesale water (from suppliers including Noble Water Company and Caldwell Village) rather than operating its own treatment plant.
History3
- 1857Caldwell, Ohio (home of NCWA wholesale supplier Caldwell Village) founded and named for Joseph and Samuel Caldwell.
- 1905Belle Valley, anchor of NCWA's Belle Valley ZIP, incorporated after the Cleveland and Marietta Railroad reached the area.
- 1963-1968Wolf Run State Park land acquired in 1963 and dedicated in 1968; its 220-acre Wolf Run Lake is the authority's primary source reservoir.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
The authority does not treat its own water; a separately operated Caldwell Water Works Treatment Plant reportedly treats Wolf Run Lake water.
Water pressure
Not published.
What it costs
The authority's own webpage publishes only a sewer usage rate of $9.22 per 1,000 gallons plus flat monthly charges; we found no water rate schedule.
Source: noblecountyohio.gov
Water quality & impurities
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2024 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
4 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 4 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 · Caldwell Village (treats the water)
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2023 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
4 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 4 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
Supply stress
Wolf Run Lake is a relatively small 220-acre impoundment used as the primary source, backed by Caldwell Lake (roughly 500-million-gallon storage) as a secondary reservoir, suggesting built-in redundancy. We found no drought, algal-bloom, or capacity data specific to this system.
Sewers
Sanitary
The authority's own webpage publishes sewer billing (a $9.22/1,000-gallon usage charge plus flat monthly charges), indicating it administers sewer billing for at least part of its area, but no description of Belle Valley's sanitary collection/treatment infrastructure was found. Smaller Noble County villages often rely on septic systems…
Source: noblecountyohio.gov
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources. Little is published about this system, so details are thin.
Main supplier in 1 ZIP code
Serves
Main water supplier in 1 ZIP code
- 43717 · Belle Valley100% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 43724 · Olive Township and Caldwell1% 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
Noble County Water Authority buys its water from Noble Water Company, which buys from Caldwell Village.
No other system is on record buying water from Noble County Water Authority.
What the records show about Noble County Water Authority
Who runs it
EPA's record says Noble County Water Authority has 896 service connections and serves 2,368 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 740-732-5948.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Noble County Water Authority buys water that Caldwell Village treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Caldwell Village: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, granular activated carbon, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
Noble County Water Authority adds nothing of its own on that table.
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 Noble County Water Authority since 2015.
EPA logs 4 violations of any kind since 2020: 4 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 December 2024, the 90th-percentile lead result at Noble County Water Authority 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 December 2018.
EPA has 3 sampling periods on file for Noble County Water Authority 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 Noble County Water Authority sent EPA, 605 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 0 |
| Unknown material | 45 |
| Not lead | 560 |
| All lines | 605 |
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
The water Noble County Water Authority buys is treated by Caldwell Village, so the results below are Caldwell Village's.
EPA's fifth national round of testing (UCMR 5) took 4 samples of the water entering the pipes of Caldwell Village in 2025 and measured 29 PFAS.
The highest PFOA or PFOS result, 13 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 PFOA 13 ng/L and PFBA 5.9 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Caldwell Village (latest sample August 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | 13 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | not detected | 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 Noble County Water Authority's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 45.1 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 55.7 µg/L and the highest single sample was 81 µg/L, from 56 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 29.9 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 39.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 59.8 µg/L, from 56 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 45.1 µg/L (2019) | 55.7 µg/L | 81 µg/L | 56 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 29.9 µg/L | 39.1 µg/L | 59.8 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
The water Noble County Water Authority buys is treated by Caldwell Village, so the results below are Caldwell Village's.
Nitrate: the highest of 97 samples was 1.99 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2015; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 0.88 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 8 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 97 | 1.99 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | 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 Caldwell Village.
Solvents and fuels
The water Noble County Water Authority buys is treated by Caldwell Village, so the results below are Caldwell Village'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 8 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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 Caldwell Village.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Noble County Water Authority buys is treated by Caldwell Village, so the results below are Caldwell Village's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 7 of 8 samples, highest 37 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 8 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 8 | 7 of 8 | 37 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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 Caldwell Village.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 95 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Noble County Water Authority tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 12 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 Noble County Water Authority buys its water from Caldwell Village, 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 Caldwell Village, which treats the water Noble County Water Authority buys.
Measured fluoride: 1.07 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Caldwell Village, which supplies Noble County Water Authority, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.81 to 1.07 mg/L across 8 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 Caldwell Village, which supplies Noble County Water Authority, last sampled in 2025 (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 Noble County Water Authority buys is treated by Caldwell Village, so the results below are Caldwell Village'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 8 times in 227 raw-water samples, across 3 bloom seasons (2019 to 2026); the highest raw-water result was 3.63 µg/L on August 24, 2026. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 3.63 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (139 samples).
In all, 366 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 227 | 8 | 3.63 µg/L |
| Treated water | 139 | 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).
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of Noble County Water Authority 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 279 residents are inside the boundary, 12% of the 2,368 people Noble County Water Authority 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.
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 OH6100503 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: en.wikipedia.org, tile.loc.gov, noblecountyohio.gov
History: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
Rates: noblecountyohio.gov
Sewers: noblecountyohio.gov
