Water system
Cuyahoga Falls City
EPA ID OH7701012 · Summit County · 51,114 people served · owned by a local government
Cuyahoga Falls City treats its own water from Wells in Cuyahoga River buried valley sand & gravel aquifer.
The system's record
- Aquifer
- Cuyahoga River buried valley sand and gravel aquifer
- Active wells
- 15
- Serves
- 51,114 people · Summit County
- EPA ID
- OH7701012
About this area's water
Did you know
- Cuyahoga Falls drinks entirely from 18 wells at Water Works Park, but the Cuyahoga River still feeds the supply indirectly, recharging the aquifer through man-made channels and lagoons.
- The plant softens only about two-thirds of its water, then blends the softened and unsoftened streams back together to land at a target hardness of 100 to 130 ppm.
- Water Works Park's stone shelter and bridges were built around 1934 by crews working under FDR's Works Progress Administration.
- A single 2024 tap sample came back at 465 ppb of lead, over 30 times the action level - but the resample was under 5 ppb, pointing at that home's plumbing rather than the city's water.
History5
- 1934Water Works Park, its shelter and its bridges were built by crews under FDR's Works Progress Administration, on the site of the city's well field.
- 1959Flooding inundated Water Works Park and the well field in January 1959; the park and wells flooded again in April 1978.
- 2022An Ohio EPA sanitary survey found reporting violations and significant deficiencies, including severe deterioration of the plant's softener building pipe gallery.
- 2023Two water main breaks on Akron Peninsula Road near Bath Road triggered an October 8 boil advisory on Akron-supplied lines serving outlying Cuyahoga Falls and Boston Township addresses.
- 2024One of 30 lead compliance samples returned 465 ppb, far over the 15 ppb action level; the resample came back under 5 ppb and the 90th percentile stayed at 0.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Groundwater from 18 wells at Water Works Park enters iron-removal filters where chlorine strips iron and manganese; about two-thirds is then softened by ion exchange, blended back with the rest to 100-130 ppm hardness, and dosed with chlorine, fluoride, caustic soda and orthophosphate.
Water pressure
not published; no average or pressure-zone psi figures appear in the city's water reports.
What it costs
The city does not post its per-unit water rate schedule online; rates are set by Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Code 923.01.
Water quality & impurities6
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Running average under the MCL, but individual samples ranged 36.4-103 ppb, topping 80 at least once. | 61.78 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Lead (single high sample) 1 of 30 samples over the AL; resample under 5 ppb. 90th percentile reported as 0, so no AL exceedance. | 465 ppb | 15 (action… | 2024 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Comfortably under the MCL. Range 18.5-33.7 ppb; no violation. | 22.97 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 30 samples above the copper action level. | 0.44 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2024 |
| Fluoride Added for tooth decay protection. Range 0.80-1.06 ppm. | 0.92 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Total chlorine Residual disinfectant. Range 1.00-1.35 ppm; no violation. | 1.27 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2024 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA health-based violations since 2015:
- 2024Lead and Copper Rule Revisions · lead service line inventory missing or incomplete (a records requirement, not a lead test result) · returned to compliance
6 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late; 3 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records); 1 health-based.
Projects & plans3
Recent and current work
- Iron filter media replacement · 2023 · under construction
Ordered after Ohio EPA found no replacement schedule and organic growth on several iron filters; phased replacement began in 2023.
Planned or needed
- Water treatment plant softener building and pipe gallery replacement · 2026 · planned
Ohio EPA cited significant deterioration; design plans were due by end of 2025 with construction to begin in 2026. - Removal of the State Road Water Tank supplemental chlorine booster station · 2026 · planned
The booster station was found inoperable during the 2022 sanitary survey; the city plans to remove it.
Supply stress
A buried-valley sand-and-gravel aquifer recharged by the Cuyahoga River through man-made channels and lagoons. Ohio EPA rates it highly susceptible: water sits 4-32 feet down with no low-permeability protective layer. The plant produces close to 6 MGD; aging plant structures, not supply, are the pressure.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 3 ZIP codes
Serves
Main water supplier in 3 ZIP codes
- 44221 · Cuyahoga Falls97% of residents
- 44223 · Cuyahoga Falls90% of residents
- 44264 · Cuyahoga Falls and Peninsula38% of residents
Also present in 1 more ZIP code
- 44224 · Stow2% 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
Cuyahoga Falls City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
2 systems on record buy water from Cuyahoga Falls City: Munroe Falls City, Silver Lake Village.
What the records show about Cuyahoga Falls City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Cuyahoga Falls City as owned by a local government. It has 21,309 service connections and serves 51,114 people.
EPA classes it as a community water system, one that serves the same residents all year.
EPA's record says it has substantially implemented source water protection under Ohio's program, dating the program from 2025. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 330-971-8133.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Cuyahoga Falls City: corrosion control, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, ion-exchange softening, and sand or media filtration.
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 counts 1 health-based violation for Cuyahoga Falls City since 2015. Health-based means a contaminant above its legal limit or a required treatment step not carried out. It falls into 1 separate problem (one contaminant or rule in one year); the table lists it.
EPA logs 6 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late; 3 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records); 1 health-based.
| Year | Contaminant or rule | Kind | Measured | Limit | Status in EPA's record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | lead service line inventory missing or incomplete (a records requirement, not a lead test result) | not on file | not on file | returned to compliance |
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 Cuyahoga Falls 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.
The highest result on file is 5 ppb, in the period ending December 2018.
EPA has 4 sampling periods on file for Cuyahoga Falls City since 2016, the first ending in 2016; 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 Cuyahoga Falls City sent EPA, 17,183 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 1,014 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 57 |
| Unknown material | 3,067 |
| Not lead | 13,045 |
| All lines | 17,183 |
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 4 samples of the water entering the pipes of Cuyahoga Falls 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 Cuyahoga Falls City (latest sample June 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
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 Cuyahoga Falls City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 49.1 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 64.1 µg/L and the highest single sample was 92.4 µg/L, from 132 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 14.4 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 29.7 µg/L and the highest single sample was 63.8 µg/L, from 128 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 49.1 µg/L (2019) | 64.1 µg/L | 92.4 µg/L | 132 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 14.4 µg/L | 29.7 µg/L | 63.8 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
Nitrate was not detected in 9 samples through 2019 (limit 10 mg/L as nitrogen; above 10 is unsafe for infants).
Arsenic was not detected in 3 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 9 | not detected | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 3 | not detected | 10 µg/L | 0 |
| Combined radium | 1 | not detected | 5 pCi/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.
Solvents and fuels
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 3 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | 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.
Farm chemicals and metals
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 2 of 3 samples, highest 62.1 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, chromium, cadmium, mercury, selenium, and thallium, in 3 samples each.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 3 | 2 of 3 | 62.1 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | 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.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 5,550 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Cuyahoga Falls City tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 638 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 Cuyahoga Falls City adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Cuyahoga Falls City.
Measured fluoride: 0.58 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2019 (below the 0.7 mg/L target); samples ran from 0.5 to 0.8 mg/L across 3 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 found in 1 of 2 UCMR 5 samples at Cuyahoga Falls City, highest 10.4 µg/L, last sampled in 2023.
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.
How well the service area is mapped
The service area drawn on the map for Cuyahoga Falls City comes from the utility's own map.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 47,441 residents are inside the boundary, 93% of the 51,114 people Cuyahoga Falls 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 — 4 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 OH7701012 (EPA ECHO).
Cuyahoga Falls City's own pages: cityofcf.com, cityofcf.com
