Water system
Circleville City
EPA ID OH6500412 · Pickaway County · 13,927 people served · owned by a local government
Circleville City treats its own water from Scioto River valley aquifer (sand & gravel wells).
The system's record
- Aquifer
- Scioto River valley aquifer (sand and gravel outwash)
- Water bodies
- Scioto River
- Active wells
- 4
- Serves
- 13,927 people · Pickaway County
- EPA ID
- OH6500412
Four municipal wells on the eastern Scioto River floodplain draw from a shallow sand-and-gravel outwash aquifer (high contamination susceptibility per Ohio EPA).
About this area's water
Did you know
- Circleville's water plant has been worked over four times since it opened in 1962 — upgrades in 1983, 1990 and 2012 — and the city is now weighing a $56 million reverse-osmosis rebuild that would drop hardness from…
- The wells reach about 130 feet into the Teays aquifer, but the top of that aquifer sits less than 15 feet below the surface under a thin clay cover, which is why Ohio EPA calls it highly susceptible — even though every…
- The city finished an emergency backup connection to the Earnhart Hill system in June 2015 and, in 2025, did not draw a single gallon through it.
- Circleville sells water by the hundred cubic feet, and the arithmetic matters: at $6.66 per ccf plus an $8.50 service charge, 5,000 gallons costs about $53 a month, roughly $20 more than neighboring Washington Court…
History6
- 1962Water treatment plant built west of the city, alongside the well field.
- 1983Water treatment plant upgraded.
- 1990Water treatment plant expanded.
- 2012Water treatment plant upgraded again.
- 2015June: emergency backup water system interconnection with the Earnhart Hill Water system completed, for emergency use only.
- 2022Ohio EPA issued a finding of no significant impact for a $41.6 million wastewater plant upgrade financed through the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund, with about $19.5 million of it carrying 0%…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Four production wells, each averaging about 130 feet deep, draw from the Teays valley sand-and-gravel aquifer at the water plant site at 663 Island Road, west of the city. The plant is an iron and manganese removal facility — iron and manganese sand filters followed by chlorine disinfection —…
Source: circlevilleoh.govcirclevilleoh.govsciotopost.com
Water pressure
Not published. The 2025 CCR and the Ohio EPA environmental reviews reviewed here give no distribution pressure figure.
What it costs
$8.90 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $53 a month for water.
2026 schedule, inside the city: $8.50 monthly service charge plus $6.66 per 100 cubic feet at every tier, which is $8.90 per 1,000 gallons (1 ccf = 748 gal) and about $53.02 a…
Water quality & impurities7
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Chlorine Range 0.99-1.27; disinfectant residual, compliant. | 1.16 ppm | 4.0 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 33.0-33.6; disinfection byproduct, compliant. | 33.6 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 6.4-6.9; disinfection byproduct, compliant. | 6.9 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Fluoride Range 0.83-1.15; well under the MCL. | 1.10 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Copper 90th percentile, range of individual results 0.00-1.2; 0 of 30 samples over the action level. This is the highest… | 0.780 ppm | 1.3 (Action… | 2025 |
| Barium Naturally occurring; compliant. | 0.13 ppm | 2 | 2025 |
| Alpha emitters Erosion of natural deposits; monitored less than annually. | 4.86 pCi/L | 15 | 2022 |
Source: circlevilleoh.gov
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.
Projects & plans6
Recent and current work
- Wastewater treatment plant upgrade · $42 million · 2022 · under construction
Ohio EPA Water Pollution Control Loan Fund project, about $37.8 million construction and $3.8 million engineering. Scope includes a new chemical feed system… - Annual water main flushing program · 2025 · completed
Ongoing operating program rather than a capital job; the 2025 CCR says it was initiated to significantly reduce instances of discolored water. - Lead service line inventory · 2024-2025 · completed
Required under the Lead and Copper Rule. The inventory listing service line material by address is viewable at the Utilities Office, 108 E Franklin St, rather… - Walnut Street utility improvements (water main replacement) · $1.3 million · 2026 · planned
Ohio Water Supply Revolving Loan Account request to replace about 1,000 linear feet of deteriorated 6-inch cast iron main with 8-inch ductile iron serving 40… - Trunk sewer regionalization design · 2026 · planned
Council passed emergency resolution 08.47-2026 on August 4, 2026 authorizing a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund design loan, repaid from Sanitary Sewer Fund…
Source: circlevilleoh.govcirclevilleoh.govcirclevilleoh.gov
Planned or needed
- Water treatment plant rebuild with reverse-osmosis membranes · $56 million · 2030 · proposed
Would replace the 1962 plant, cut hardness from about 380 mg/L to 120-130 mg/L, and position the city for federal PFAS rules and tightening standards on…
Source: sciotopost.com
Supply stress
Ohio EPA's source water assessment rates the aquifer as having high susceptibility to contamination, on three grounds: a minimal thickness of protective clay above the aquifer, a shallow aquifer top less than 15 feet below ground surface, and significant potential contaminant sources inside the required protection area. The wells…
Sewers
Sanitary
City-owned wastewater treatment plant west of the city, rated at 4.0 MGD and handling about 2.0 MGD in dry weather, discharging to the Scioto River at river mile 99.2 — a reach designated warmwater habitat and a superior high quality water resource — and serving about 13,000 people. The collection system is roughly 70 miles of separate…
Storm
No stormwater fee appears on the city's 2026 water and sewer rate schedule. The city lists a stormwater management program but publishes no rate or fee structure, and whether any part of the collection system is combined is not stated; Ohio EPA describes the…
Source: circlevilleoh.govcirclevilleoh.govsciotovalleyguardian.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
- 43113 · Circleville50% 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
Circleville City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Circleville City.
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
Circleville City's own pages: sciotopost.com, etd.ohiolink.edu
Notable facts: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotopost.com
History: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotopost.com
Water quality: circlevilleoh.gov
Planned work: sciotopost.com
Capital projects: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotovalleyguardian.com
Rates: circlevilleoh.gov, sciotopost.com, recordherald.com
Sewers: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotovalleyguardian.com
Treatment: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotopost.com
Supply stress: circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, circlevilleoh.gov, sciotopost.com