Water system
Mcdonald Village
EPA ID OH7802003 · Trumbull County · 4,236 people served · owned by a local government
Mcdonald Village buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Meander Creek Reservoir, Berlin Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Meander Creek Reservoir
Berlin Reservoir - EPA ID
- OH7801811
About this area's water
Did you know
- MVSD treats about 30 million gallons a day at one plant and pumps it to Youngstown, Niles and McDonald; McDonald, with roughly 4,200 people, is in that company as a special-contract customer rather than a member city.
- MVSD owns 5,500 acres around Meander Creek Reservoir enclosed by 35 miles of fence, replanted with four million evergreens and kept as a restricted fish and game refuge closed to the public.
- McDonald buys MVSD water at about $2.11 per 1,000 gallons and sells it inside the village at $6.50 per 1,000 gallons - and resells it onward to the City of Girard and Weathersfield Township through 30 miles of its own…
- The village was built from scratch as a Carnegie Steel company town rather than growing organically like most Ohio villages (Wikipedia).
Source: mcdonaldvillage.commeanderwater.orgmcdonaldvillage.com
History6
- 1926Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (MVSD) formed; it began providing water to its member cities in 1932. Meander Creek Reservoir is 7 miles long, covers 2,010 acres with 40 miles of shoreline and…
- early 1900sMcDonald was built as a company town by Carnegie Steel (later U.S. Steel), named for the local McDonald family (Wikipedia).
- 2015Ohio EPA recorded a maximum contaminant level violation for McDonald in the July-September 2015 compliance period: 0.088 mg/L against a 0.080 mg/L limit for total trihalomethanes. Returned to…
- 2024Village created its Ohio EPA lead service line inventory under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions; 0 of 20 lead and 0 of 20 copper samples exceeded action levels in each half of 2025.
- 2025-11Council passed separate ordinances increasing water rates and sewer rates; the higher bills first appeared in April 2026.
- 2026-07-15MVSD's plant failed to meet the required disinfectant contact time after an injector failure interrupted the chlorine feed at the primary feed point for about 15 minutes. McDonald distributed the…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
McDonald treats none of its own water. It buys finished water through a single consecutive connection from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (PWSID OH7801811), which treats roughly 30 million gallons a day of raw water drawn from Meander Creek Reservoir and pumps it to Youngstown, Niles and…
Source: mcdonaldvillage.comdata.epa.govdata.epa.gov
Water pressure
Not published. The 2025 CCR tells customers to phone the water department about pressure but gives no figures, and no psi range appears in any village document located.
Source: mcdonaldvillage.com
What it costs
$6.50 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $37 a month for water.
Water only, from the village's Water Rates Comparison Chart updated 3/11/2026: $6.50 per 1,000 gallons inside the village plus $4.00 in additional fees, i.e. $36.50 for 5,000…
Source: mcdonaldvillage.commcdonaldvillage.commcdonaldvillage.com
Water quality & impurities7
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Locational running annual average in McDonald's distribution system - the highest single detection, 81.1 ug/L, was… | 66.45 (range… ug/L | 80 (MCL) | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Locational running annual average, distribution system. | 30.8 (range… ug/L | 60 (MCL) | 2025 |
| PFOS UCMR5 round; McDonald ran 100 tests for 29 PFAS compounds and lithium in January, April, July and October 2023. | 15.8 average… ng/L | 4.0 (federal… | 2023 |
| PFHxS UCMR5. PFHxA (3.5 ng/L) and PFBS (3.1 ng/L) were also detected. | 7.5 average… ng/L | no federal MCL… | 2023 |
| Total chlorine Distribution average; MVSD's entry-point chlorine averaged 2.25 ppm (1.87-3.11). | 2.09 (range… ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Copper 0 of 20 samples over the action level in each half of the year; lead 90th percentile was below 2 ug/L against a 15 ug/L… | 0.0518 (90th… mg/L | 1.3 (action… | 2025 |
| Nitrate MVSD entry-point data; turbidity averaged 0.03 NTU and met the standard 100% of the time, and fluoride averaged 1.00… | 0.33 (range… mg/L | 10 (MCL) | 2025 |
Source: mcdonaldvillage.comdata.epa.gov
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA health-based violations since 2015:
- 2015Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · above the legal limit on average · measured 0.088 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
1 violation of any kind logged since 2020: 1 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
EPA compliance record · Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (treats the water)
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
Projects & plans2
Recent and current work
- Lead service line inventory · 2024 · completed
Required by the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions; the village posts the current Ohio EPA spreadsheet on its website.
Source: mcdonaldvillage.com
Planned or needed
- Mineral Ridge Dam rehabilitation (MVSD) · under construction
MVSD's project on the dam that impounds Meander Creek Reservoir, McDonald's sole source. Ohio EPA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact after limited…
Source: meanderwater.org
Supply stress
Single-source, single-connection dependence: every gallon McDonald sells arrives through one consecutive connection from MVSD's Meander Creek Reservoir plant, and the village is a customer by special contract rather than a member city (Youngstown and Niles are the members). MVSD's own source assessment, quoted in McDonald's CCR, calls…
Source: mcdonaldvillage.commeanderwater.orgmcdonaldvillage.com
Sewers
Sanitary
Village-operated sanitary sewer billed with water; council raised sewer rates by ordinance in November 2025 and the village's own April 2026 notice attributes part of the increase to charges from the City of Niles, which points to Niles handling treatment, though no agreement or plant name is published. Sewer rate figures are not posted…
Storm
Not documented in any village or Ohio EPA source located.
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
- 44437 · Mcdonald and Mc Donald94% 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
Mcdonald Village buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
No other system is on record buying water from Mcdonald Village.
What the records show about Mcdonald Village
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Mcdonald Village as owned by a local government. It has 1,780 service connections and serves 4,236 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 330-530-5472.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
Mcdonald Village buys water that Mahoning Valley Sanitary District treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Mahoning Valley Sanitary District: chloramine disinfection, corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, lime softening, powdered activated carbon, 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 Mcdonald Village 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 1 violation of any kind since 2020: 1 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).
| Year | Contaminant or rule | Kind | Measured | Limit | Status in EPA's record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | above the legal limit on average | 0.088 mg/L | 0.08 mg/L | 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 2025, the 90th-percentile lead result at Mcdonald Village 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.
EPA has 11 sampling periods on file for Mcdonald Village since 2016, the first ending in 2017; 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 Mcdonald Village sent EPA, 1,780 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 19 |
| Unknown material | 516 |
| Not lead | 1,245 |
| All lines | 1,780 |
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 Mcdonald Village in 2023 and measured 29 PFAS.
The highest PFOA or PFOS result, 21.2 ng/L, is at or above the federal limit of 4 ng/L that EPA set in 2024. Systems have until 2029 to comply, and in May 2026 EPA proposed letting systems apply for two more years. One sample over the limit is not a violation: compliance is judged on a running annual average.
The highest PFAS results were PFOS 21.2 ng/L, PFHxS 10.2 ng/L, and PFHxA 3.8 ng/L.
The hazard index for the PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS mixture reached 1.02 in the worst sample; above 1 would exceed the 2024 mixture limit, which EPA proposed in May 2026 to withdraw.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (latest sample May 2021). The highest result was PFOS at 10.9 ppt (ppt is the same unit as ng/L), against Ohio's action level of 70 ppt. Those action levels are the ones Ohio EPA used for the survey; the 2024 federal limit for PFOA and PFOS is 4 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's current sampling status map lists 1 plant of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District as sampled, most recently July 2026.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | not detected | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | 21.2 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
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 Mcdonald Village's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 60.5 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 68.8 µg/L and the highest single sample was 107.1 µg/L, from 65 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 32.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 40 µg/L and the highest single sample was 69.9 µg/L, from 64 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 60.5 µg/L (2019) | 68.8 µg/L | 107.1 µg/L | 65 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 32.6 µg/L | 40 µg/L | 69.9 µg/L | 64 |
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 Mcdonald Village buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District's.
Nitrate: the highest of 187 samples was 0.71 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 0.47 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate 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) | 187 | 0.71 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 3 | 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.
Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Solvents and fuels
The water Mcdonald Village buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District'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 13 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 13 | 0 of 13 | 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Farm chemicals and metals
The water Mcdonald Village buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District's.
EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: atrazine in 3 of 12 samples, highest 0.21 µg/L (limit 3); barium in 3 of 4 samples, highest 13 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: alachlor in 12 samples, chromium in 4 samples, cadmium in 4 samples, mercury in 4 samples, selenium in 4 samples, thallium in 4 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 12 | 3 of 12 | 0.21 µg/L | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 12 | 0 of 12 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 4 | 3 of 4 | 13 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 4 | 0 of 4 | 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 of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Bacteria in the pipes
From 2012 to 2019, 0 of 719 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Mcdonald Village tested positive (0%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 84 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 Mcdonald Village buys its water from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, 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 Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which treats the water Mcdonald Village buys.
Measured fluoride: 1.01 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which supplies Mcdonald Village, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.87 to 1.12 mg/L across 4 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 Mcdonald Village, last sampled in 2023 (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 Mcdonald Village buys is treated by Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, so the results below are Mahoning Valley Sanitary District'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 220 raw-water samples, across 2 bloom seasons (2021 to 2023); the highest raw-water result was 0.335 µg/L on November 9, 2021. There has been no raw-water detection since 2024.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (78 samples).
In all, 298 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 24, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 220 | 2 | 0.335 µg/L |
| Treated water | 78 | 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
EPA estimated the service area of Mcdonald Village with a computer model rather than drawing it from the utility's map, so its edges are approximate.
Counting the people who live in the ZIP codes it overlaps, this atlas estimates 3,809 residents are inside the boundary, 90% of the 4,236 people Mcdonald Village 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 — 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
EPA's own record for this system: Enforcement and Compliance History report for OH7802003 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: mcdonaldvillage.com, meanderwater.org, mcdonaldvillage.com, en.wikipedia.org
History: meanderwater.org, data.epa.gov, mcdonaldvillage.com, mcdonaldvillage.com
Water quality: mcdonaldvillage.com, data.epa.gov
Planned work: meanderwater.org
Water pressure: mcdonaldvillage.com
Capital projects: mcdonaldvillage.com
Rates: mcdonaldvillage.com, mcdonaldvillage.com, mcdonaldvillage.com, mcdonaldvillage.com
Sewers: mcdonaldvillage.com, mcdonaldvillage.com
Treatment: mcdonaldvillage.com, data.epa.gov, data.epa.gov
Supply stress: mcdonaldvillage.com, meanderwater.org, mcdonaldvillage.com
