Stow Public Water System

• The Lake Rockwell plant that supplies Stow's water has been in service since 1915 - more than 110 years.
• Akron's 2022 CCR says treated water is pumped 11 miles to Akron through three force mains into equalizing reservoirs; 21% of the system sits high enough to need eight extra pumping districts.
• If Akron's supply is ever interrupted, partial backup connections exist to the water utilities of Kent, Hudson, Cleveland, Barberton and Cuyahoga Falls.
• Stow's 2024 service line inventory, done from historical records and visual inspections, found no lead, galvanized-needing-replacement, or unknown-material lines anywhere in the system.

• 1915Akron's Lake Rockwell treatment plant - enhanced coagulation, rapid sand filtration - enters service; it still supplies Stow today.
• 2001Stow is licensed by Ohio EPA to operate its own public water system, while still buying all finished water wholesale from Akron.
• 2011Akron enters the federal consent decree behind the Akron Waterways Renewed sewer program; Stow's sanitary flow feeds that system.
• 2023Akron publicly contests U.S. EPA's required $200M+ Enhanced High-Rate Treatment facility as unnecessary, asking residents to speak out.
• 2024On March 1 a federal judge rules Akron has no legal basis to amend the decree and must build the $209M EHRT facility; Akron appeals.

How it is treated

Stow buys 100% finished water from Akron, which treats Lake Rockwell (Upper Cuyahoga) water by enhanced coagulation and rapid sand filtration, then adds chlorine dioxide, zinc orthophosphate for corrosion control, chlorine, fluoride and caustic soda for pH.

Water pressure

Not published; the 2024 CCR gives no psi. Water enters at the Marsh Rd and N. Main St (Munroe Falls) booster stations; 21% of Akron's system is high-elevation.

Not published. Stow bills water on the city utility bill, but no rate schedule appears on stowohio.gov (Utility Billing, Document Center and staff directory pages checked).

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 (lead) · treatment technique violation · returned to compliance

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

EPA compliance record · Akron City (treats the water)

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.7 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2025Haloacetic acids (HAA5) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.062 MG/L · returned to compliance

1 violation of any kind logged since 2020, 0 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• Akron Waterways Renewed (combined sewer overflow program) · $1000 million · 2011-2028 · under construction
  Consent-decree sewer program; 24 of 26 projects complete, Northside Interceptor Tunnel under construction. Stow's sewage flows into this system.

Planned or needed

• Enhanced High-Rate Treatment (EHRT) facility · $209 million · 2024 · planned
  Final consent-decree project. Akron contested it and lost at district court in March 2024; reporting says combined water/sewer bills could rise ~23%.

Stow has no source of its own and depends entirely on Akron's Lake Rockwell reservoir system, which Ohio EPA rated 'moderate susceptibility' in 2003 (farm runoff, septic systems, rail and road spills). Akron's plant is rated 67 MGD and averages 35 MGD for ~300,000 people, so supply is ample; the real pressure is consent-decree sewer cost.

Sanitary

Stow's sewage goes to Akron's Water Reclamation Facility at 2460 Akron-Peninsula Rd (~62 MGD), which also serves Cuyahoga Falls, Springfield, Mogadore, Lakemore, Tallmadge, Fairlawn, Bath and Montrose. Akron's older core has combined sewers under a federal consent decree (entered 2011) requiring compliance by 2028.

Storm

Stow's own collection system uses separate storm sewers maintained by the city; no stormwater utility fee or major flooding issue was identified in the sources reviewed.

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