Scioto Water Inc.-careys Run

• Portsmouth supplies about half of all public water used in Scioto County and reaches as far as South Shore, Kentucky, making it the county's largest water utility.
• The plant sits inside the 100-year floodplain behind an Ohio River levee, so every new structure is being built above elevation 537 feet in case the levee ever fails.
• Ohio EPA is forgiving up to $10 million of the loan principal for the portion of the work that treats harmful algal bloom toxins, and charges 0% on any HAB balance beyond that.
• Demand has fallen so far since the 1940s that piping and equipment sit abandoned in place, and the replacement plant is being built smaller than the one it replaces.

• 1872The city's Holly waterworks begins service on February 22, pumping Ohio River water with steam-driven Holly gang and rotary pumps.
• 1890-1914After the council weighs selling the system in 1889, new pumps are added from 1890 and a new plant opens in 1914.
• 1937The Ohio River flood overwhelms Portsmouth's river defenses and inundates much of the city.
• 2013EPA proposes a federal Clean Water Act Administrative Order on Consent over raw-sewage overflows from the Portsmouth and Sciotoville sewer systems.
• 2024Ohio EPA issues a finding of no significant impact for an $80 million WSRLA-financed replacement water treatment plant and river intake.

How it is treated

Conventional Ohio River surface-water plant: river intake and pump house, pre-sedimentation basin, ion exchange, rapid mix, flocculation and clarification, high-rate sand filtration, clearwell storage and high-service pumping. Rated 12 MGD; averages 5.2 MGD.

Water pressure

not published; no system-wide psi figure found in city or Ohio EPA materials

Typical household bill about $31 a month for water.

No per-1,000-gallon rate published; Ohio EPA's 2024 loan review cites a $371 average annual bill, with rises of 10% in 2024, 5% in 2025-26 and 3% after.

EPA compliance record · Scioto Water Inc.-careys Run

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 4 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.

2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 2 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

EPA compliance record · Portsmouth City (treats the water)

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.4 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.

4 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 4 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• Portsmouth replacement water treatment plant (WSRLA) · $80 million · 2024 · under construction
  New 8.3 MGD plant (expandable to 12 MGD) and new river intake replacing facilities past their useful life; a $3.5M earmark also used.

Planned or needed

• New raw water intake and river water pump house · 2024 · under construction
  New intake built about 35 meters offshore in the Ohio River as part of the same WSRLA project.

Ohio River supply is not quantity-limited and demand has fallen for decades (5.2 MGD average against a 12 MGD rated plant). The stress is asset condition: a plant built before 1930 whose processes have passed their useful lives, plus the need to treat harmful algal bloom toxins.

Sanitary

City of Portsmouth runs the sanitary and combined sewers for Portsmouth and Sciotoville. A federal Clean Water Act Administrative Order on Consent requires it to cut raw-sewage overflows, improve operation and maintenance, and build work in the Munn's Run and Upper Grandview/Lawson Run areas.

Storm

The system includes both combined and separate sewer areas; stormwater inflow reduction such as downspout disconnection is required by the consent order. No dedicated stormwater utility fee found.

Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.