Water system
Aurora City - Cleveland
EPA ID OH6789112 · Portage County · 15,852 people served · owned by a local government
Aurora City - Cleveland buys its water from Cleveland Public Water System.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Lake Erie
- Raw intakes
- Cleveland Baldwin
Cleveland Crown
Cleveland Morgan
Cleveland Nottingham - Serves
- 1,308,955 people · Cuyahoga County
- EPA ID
- OH1801212
About this area's water
Did you know
- Cleveland Water is the 10th-largest public water system in the United States, treating and delivering up to 300 million gallons a day to more than 1.45 million people in 80 communities across Cuyahoga County and parts…
- Aurora runs two entirely separate public water systems side by side: this one, buying Lake Erie water from Cleveland, and an Aurora Portage system fed by a Coit Road well field and softened by ion exchange at Portage…
- The two Aurora systems are joined by an auxiliary connection that is barely used: 0 gallons passed through it in 2025, and it runs about one day in an average year.
- Aurora's Cleveland-system intakes are spread across 15 miles of Lake Erie, each several miles from shore, deliberately placed to stay clear of Cuyahoga and Rocky River runoff.
- Both of Aurora's distribution systems report no lead service lines, no galvanized lines requiring replacement, and no lines of unknown material - each with its own public service line inventory map.
History6
- 1916Cleveland's Garrett A. Morgan Water Treatment Plant is built, on the site of the city's first waterworks facility; it now pumps an average of 60 million gallons a day.
- 1925Cleveland's Baldwin Plant is put into service in the University Circle/Fairfax area; it pumps an average of 71.1 million gallons a day and is one of the two plants whose results are reported for…
- 1951Cleveland's Nottingham Plant is placed into service in September, pumping water to the eastern part of Cleveland; it is the other plant reporting water quality for Aurora's Cleveland system.
- 1958Cleveland's Crown Plant is first put into service in Westlake, averaging 40 million gallons a day - the only one of the four Cleveland Water plants sited outside Cleveland itself.
- 2003Ohio's Drinking Water Source Assessment Report for Cleveland Water's four Lake Erie intakes is completed, following an assessment the state performed in the late 1990s; Ohio EPA concludes the source…
- 2020Cleveland Water is sampled under the State of Ohio's Drinking Water PFAS Sampling initiative; six PFAS compounds are tested and none are detected in finished drinking water.
Source: cms9files.revize.comclevelandwater.comclevelandwater.com
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Aurora's Cleveland-system water is Lake Erie surface water. Cleveland Water draws it from four intakes in the Central Basin spread over 15 miles of shoreline, each 3 to 5 miles offshore where the water is cleaner and least affected by tributary runoff and coastal activity. Cleveland treats it with…
Source: clevelandwater.comcms9files.revize.com
Water pressure
Not published. Neither Aurora's 2025 CCR nor any city water department page gives a service pressure in psi or a pressure-zone map. The city does disclose the physical plant…
Source: cms9files.revize.comauroraoh.com
What it costs
$8.54 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $34 a month for water.
Aurora prices water per MCF, meaning 1,000 CUBIC FEET (7,480 gallons) - not per 1,000 gallons. The rate is $63.91 per MCF effective January 1, 2026, which is $8.54 per 1,000…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 17.2-46.3 ppb. Aurora Cleveland system; byproduct of chlorination and the highest-reading regulated contaminant… | 43.7 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 7.1-18.6 ppb. Byproduct of chlorination. | 16.65 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Lead, 90th percentile Zero of 30 samples over the action level. Aurora reports that the Cleveland-side distribution system contains no lead… | 0 ppb | 15 (action… | 2025 |
| Copper, 90th percentile Zero of 30 samples over the action level. | 0.31 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2025 |
| Turbidity Highest recorded treated-water result at the Baldwin Plant (range 0.002-0.22); Nottingham's highest was 0.08 NTU.… | 0.22 NTU | TT: <0.3 NTU in… | 2025 |
| Fluoride Baldwin Plant, range 0.76-1.26 mg/L; Nottingham 0.96 mg/L, range 0.78-1.13. | 1.02 mg/L | 4 | 2025 |
| Nitrate as Nitrogen Baldwin Plant, range ND-0.45; Nottingham 0.48 mg/L. Far below the MCL - a Lake Erie source rather than an agricultural… | 0.45 mg/L | 10 | 2025 |
| Total Chlorine (Aurora distribution… Range 0.7-1.01 ppm across 1,685 samples taken by the city. | 0.886 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Total Organic Carbon (removal ratio) Baldwin Plant, range 1.48-1.86; a value above 1 means the TOC removal requirement was met. Nottingham 1.37. | 1.66 ratio | TT (must exceed… | 2024 |
| PFBA - perfluorobutanoic acid… Detected at the entry point to Aurora's Cleveland system; no MCL exists for PFBA. Equivalent to 1.6 parts per trillion. | 0.0016 ppb | none set | 2025 |
Source: cms9files.revize.com
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.
EPA compliance record · Cleveland Public Water System (treats the water)
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 required testing that was missed or reported late.
Supply stress
Lake Erie is a large, continuously replenished surface source, and Ohio EPA rates Cleveland Water's source water as having LOW susceptibility to contamination specifically because the four intakes sit 3 to 5 miles offshore, which greatly minimizes potential contamination from the Cuyahoga River, the Rocky River and nearshore sources.…
Source: cms9files.revize.com
Sewers
Sanitary
Sewer is billed by the same city water department on the same quarterly cycle as water, at $38.74 per MCF - $5.18 per 1,000 gallons - plus a $48.66 flat rate, both unchanged since January 1, 2020 and, unlike the water rate, not subject to the Portage County escalator. Aurora's Engineering Department lists 'water and wastewater treatment…
Storm
No stormwater utility fee or system description is published. The Engineering Department lists storm water maintenance among its capital improvement responsibilities, alongside street construction, traffic studies and sanitary and waterline improvements, and…
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
- 44202 · Aurora58% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 44139 · Solon0% 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
Aurora City - Cleveland buys its water from Cleveland Public Water System.
No other system is on record buying water from Aurora City - Cleveland.
What the records show about Aurora City - Cleveland
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Aurora City - Cleveland as owned by a local government. It has 5,793 service connections and serves 15,852 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 330-562-8662.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Aurora City - Cleveland buys water that Cleveland Public Water System treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Cleveland Public Water System: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.
Aurora City - Cleveland 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 Aurora City - Cleveland since 2015.
EPA logs no violations of any kind for Aurora City - Cleveland 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 Aurora City - Cleveland 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 ppb, in the period ending December 2018.
EPA has 4 sampling periods on file for Aurora City - Cleveland 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 Aurora City - Cleveland sent EPA, 5,928 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 1 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 5,927 |
| All lines | 5,928 |
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 6 samples of the water entering the pipes of Aurora City - Cleveland in 2024 to 2025 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 4 plants of Cleveland Public Water System (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 4 plants of Cleveland Public Water System as sampled, most recently June 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 Aurora City - Cleveland's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 40.9 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 45.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 66.5 µg/L, from 128 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 14.2 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 23.9 µg/L and the highest single sample was 39.4 µg/L, from 128 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 40.9 µg/L (2019) | 45.1 µg/L | 66.5 µg/L | 128 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 14.2 µg/L | 23.9 µg/L | 39.4 µg/L | 128 |
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 Aurora City - Cleveland buys is treated by Cleveland Public Water System, so the results below are Cleveland Public Water System's.
Nitrate: the highest of 384 samples was 1.34 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.04 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 32 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 384 | 1.34 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 32 | 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.
EPA's file lumps the entry-point samples of all 4 plants of Cleveland Public Water System together, so a result over a limit may come from a plant that serves a different part of town.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Cleveland Public Water System.
Solvents and fuels
The water Aurora City - Cleveland buys is treated by Cleveland Public Water System, so the results below are Cleveland Public Water System'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 37 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 37 | 0 of 37 | 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 Cleveland Public Water System.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Aurora City - Cleveland buys is treated by Cleveland Public Water System, so the results below are Cleveland Public Water System's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, barium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 32 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 32 | 0 of 32 | not detected | 0 |
Non-detects count as zero in the highest-result column.
EPA's file lumps the entry-point samples of all 4 plants of Cleveland Public Water System together, so a result over a limit may come from a plant that serves a different part of town.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Cleveland Public Water System.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 1,444 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Aurora City - Cleveland tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 180 did. E. coli was never found in the 1 sample 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 Aurora City - Cleveland buys its water from Cleveland Public Water System, 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 Cleveland Public Water System, which treats the water Aurora City - Cleveland buys.
Measured fluoride: 0.93 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Cleveland Public Water System, which supplies Aurora City - Cleveland, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.81 to 1.38 mg/L across 380 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 Aurora City - Cleveland, 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 Aurora City - Cleveland buys is treated by Cleveland Public Water System, so the results below are Cleveland Public Water System'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 2 times in 1,068 raw-water samples, across 1 bloom season (2018); the highest raw-water result was 0.38 µg/L on September 10, 2018. There has been no raw-water detection since 2024.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (1,137 samples).
In all, 2,205 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 1,068 | 2 | 0.38 µg/L |
| Treated water | 1,137 | 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
The service area drawn on the map for Aurora City - Cleveland comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 12,899 residents are inside the boundary, 81% of the 15,852 people Aurora City - Cleveland 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 — 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 OH6789112 (EPA ECHO).
Aurora City - Cleveland's own pages: clevelandwater.com
Notable facts: cms9files.revize.com, auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com
History: cms9files.revize.com, clevelandwater.com, clevelandwater.com, clevelandwater.com
Water quality: cms9files.revize.com
Planned work: auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com
Water pressure: cms9files.revize.com, auroraoh.com
Capital projects: auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com
Rates: auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com
Sewers: auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com, auroraoh.com
Treatment: clevelandwater.com, cms9files.revize.com
Supply stress: cms9files.revize.com
