Water system
Port Clinton City
EPA ID OH6203211 · Ottawa County · 6,500 people served · owned by a local government
Port Clinton City buys its water from Ottawa County Regional Water District.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Lake Erie
- Serves
- 20,428 people · Ottawa County
- EPA ID
- OH6205011
About this area's water
Did you know
- Port Clinton calls itself the 'Walleye Capital of the World' and marks New Year's Eve downtown with a Walleye Drop.
- The city is the primary mainland port of the Jet Express, the high-speed passenger ferry to Put-in-Bay.
- Port Clinton's water department runs 34.8 miles of main, 800 valves, 245 hydrants and a single elevated tower for 2,779 connections — and treats none of the water flowing through any of it.
- The city publishes no water rate schedule and no consumer confidence report online; what residents pay is set through an EDU charge adjusted by amendments to Chapter 921.
History3
- 1828Port Clinton is established, named for New York governor DeWitt Clinton, who was instrumental in creating the Erie Canal.
- 2024City Ordinance 1-24 covers meter replacement, an elevated water tank base on Laurel Avenue, and lead service lines.
- 2025Council adopts Ordinance 10-25, the Water and Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure Improvements Ordinance for 2025, and in April Ordinance 17-25 amending Chapter 921 to adjust the EDU charge funding Part B…
Source: en.wikipedia.orgportclinton.com
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Port Clinton does not treat its own water. The city water department distributes purchased water to about 6,025 residents through 2,779 service connections, 34.8 miles of main, 800 valves and 245 fire hydrants, with one elevated storage tower. The city's own pages do not name the supplier or…
Source: portclinton.comtapwaterdata.com
Water pressure
not published; the city lists one elevated storage tower but no pressures, pressure zones or elevation data.
Source: portclinton.com
What it costs
Not published. The city's water page carries no rate schedule and the document center exposes only ordinance titles. Ordinance 17-25 (April 2025) amends Chapter 921 to adjust the…
Source: portclinton.comportclinton.com
Water quality & impurities2
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bromodichloromethane Chlorination byproduct. Figure is reported for the Ottawa County Regional Water District — the regional supplier, a… | 10.6 ppb | no individual… | |
| Dichloroacetic acid Chlorination byproduct (reported by the aggregator as 0.0098 ppm). Same caveats: attributed to the Ottawa County… | 9.8 ppb | no individual… |
Source: tapwaterdata.com
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.
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).
EPA compliance record · Ottawa County Regional Water 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.
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 & plans2
Recent and current work
- Water and sanitary sewer infrastructure improvements (2025) · 2025
Authorized by Ordinance 10-25; Ordinance 17-25 (April 2025) adjusts the EDU charge to fund 'Part B' of the project. Scope, cost and schedule are not published… - Meter replacement, Laurel Avenue elevated water tank base, and lead service lines · 2024
Referenced in the title of Ordinance 1-24; scope and cost not published.
Source: portclinton.com
Supply stress
Port Clinton is a consecutive system with no treatment plant of its own, so its supply risk sits with its regional supplier rather than with the city.
Sewers
Sanitary
The City of Port Clinton operates its own wastewater treatment plant, averaging approximately 2.699 MGD (about 985 million gallons a year) and handling peak flows exceeding 24 MGD during heavy-rain events as required by state and federal standards. Design capacity, treatment processes, receiving stream and any CSO or consent-decree…
Storm
The same city wastewater department is responsible for operating and maintaining the city's storm sewer system alongside the sanitary system. No separate stormwater utility, rate or fee is described.
Source: portclinton.com
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
- 43452 · Port Clinton46% 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
Port Clinton City buys its water from Ottawa County Regional Water District.
No other system is on record buying water from Port Clinton City.
What the records show about Port Clinton City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Port Clinton City as owned by a local government. It has 2,752 service connections and serves 6,500 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 419-734-5522.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Port Clinton City buys water that Ottawa County Regional Water District treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Ottawa County Regional Water District: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
Port Clinton City 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 Port Clinton City 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 September 2026).
Lead and copper at the tap
In the sampling period ending December 2024, the 90th-percentile lead result at Port Clinton 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.
EPA has 3 sampling periods on file for Port Clinton City 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 Port Clinton City sent EPA, 2,679 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 61 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 1 |
| Unknown material | 2,368 |
| Not lead | 249 |
| All lines | 2,679 |
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 5 samples of the water entering the pipes of Port Clinton City in 2023 to 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District (latest sample September 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District as sampled, most recently November 2025.
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 Port Clinton City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 68.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 68.6 µg/L and the highest single sample was 134 µg/L, from 66 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 19.7 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 29.7 µg/L and the highest single sample was 72.2 µg/L, from 66 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 68.6 µg/L (2019) | 68.6 µg/L | 134 µg/L | 66 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 19.7 µg/L | 29.7 µg/L | 72.2 µg/L | 66 |
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 Port Clinton City buys is treated by Ottawa County Regional Water District, so the results below are Ottawa County Regional Water District's.
Nitrate: the highest of 97 samples was 5.09 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 3.63 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 9 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 97 | 5.09 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 9 | 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District.
Solvents and fuels
The water Port Clinton City buys is treated by Ottawa County Regional Water District, so the results below are Ottawa County Regional Water 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 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Port Clinton City buys is treated by Ottawa County Regional Water District, so the results below are Ottawa County Regional Water District's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 9 of 9 samples, highest 27 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine in 12 samples, alachlor in 12 samples, chromium in 9 samples, cadmium in 9 samples, mercury in 9 samples, selenium in 9 samples, thallium in 9 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 12 | 0 of 12 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 12 | 0 of 12 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 9 | 0 of 9 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 9 | 0 of 9 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 9 | 9 of 9 | 27 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 9 | 0 of 9 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 9 | 0 of 9 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 9 | 0 of 9 | 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 673 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Port Clinton City tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 84 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 Port Clinton City buys its water from Ottawa County Regional Water 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 Ottawa County Regional Water District, which treats the water Port Clinton City buys.
Measured fluoride: 1.11 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Ottawa County Regional Water District, which supplies Port Clinton City, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.95 to 1.11 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 Port Clinton City, 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.
Algal toxins
The water Port Clinton City buys is treated by Ottawa County Regional Water District, so the results below are Ottawa County Regional Water 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 76 times in 279 raw-water samples, across 11 bloom seasons (2016 to 2026); the highest raw-water result was 22.335 µg/L on August 12, 2019. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 2.683 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (191 samples).
In all, 470 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 18, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 279 | 76 | 22.335 µg/L |
| Treated water | 191 | 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 Port Clinton City for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $575 a year, about $48 a month.
The sewer bill in the same survey is $1,139 a year at 5,000 gallons a month.
| Use | Water, per year | Sewer, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2,500 gallons a month | $449 | $607 |
| 5,000 gallons a month | $575 | $1,139 |
| 8,000 gallons a month | $874 | $1,778 |
The survey lists it as “Port Clinton”. 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 Port Clinton City 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 6,224 residents are inside the boundary, 96% of the 6,500 people Port Clinton 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 — 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 OH6203211 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: en.wikipedia.org, portclinton.com, portclinton.com
History: en.wikipedia.org, portclinton.com
Water quality: tapwaterdata.com
Water pressure: portclinton.com
Capital projects: portclinton.com
Rates: portclinton.com, portclinton.com
Sewers: portclinton.com
Treatment: portclinton.com, tapwaterdata.com