Van Wert City

• Van Wert has taken its drinking water from the same stream, Town Creek, since 1891 — the water department is older than the automobile.
• The two reservoirs hold about 1.01 billion gallons, roughly 21 months of supply on paper and 15-16 months in practice once you subtract the bottom two feet and evaporation.
• Two pump stations east of the reservoirs can move 48.96 million gallons a day with all eight pumps running — but they only run when Town Creek is high enough, which was 172 days in 2023.
• Town Creek's recorded annual flow since 1951 has swung from 180 million to 1.26 billion gallons, a seven-fold range the reservoirs exist to absorb.
• Potassium permanganate is the first chemical added, purely to knock out bad taste and odor before coagulation begins.

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.org

• 1891Van Wert Water Department began supplying drinking water to the city, drawing from Town Creek — the same source it uses today.
• 2013In February the plant began feeding a filter aid into the treatment train to cut turbidity passing through the sand filters.
• 2023Ohio EPA placed Van Wert under Findings and Orders after total trihalomethanes exceeded the 80 ppb standard for four consecutive quarters; the city retained Veolia North America and issued MCL…
• 2023Council approved a 10% water-only rate increase (sewer unchanged), worth about $1.80 a month on a minimum bill.
• 2024On March 22 the city distributed a Tier 3 monitoring violation notice: no raw-water cyanobacteria screening sample was collected during the 6/25/23-7/8/23 period.
• 2025A second 10% water rate increase took effect March 1, driven by the THM problem, an ODNR-mandated reservoir inundation study, and inflation; it was expected to raise about $230,000 a year.

Source: vanwert.orgthevwindependent.comthevwindependent.com

How it is treated

Town Creek water is pumped into two on-site impounding reservoirs, then treated at the city plant: potassium permanganate for taste and odor, lime and ferric chloride coagulation/sedimentation in clarifiers (with lime softening as a side benefit), fluoride and carbon dioxide for pH stabilization…

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.org

Water pressure

No system-wide psi figure is published. The distribution system runs on pumps at the plant feeding about 70 miles of water main, with two elevated towers (400,000 and 500,000…

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.org

$8.32 per 1,000 gallons

Typical household bill about $31 a month for water.

2026 in-town monthly schedule: water minimum $14.04 covers 0-227 cubic feet, then $62.23 per 1,000 cf for the next 5,773 cf, declining through four blocks to $27.01 per 1,000 cf…

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.orgthevwindependent.com

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.org

EPA compliance record

Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).

EPA health-based violations since 2015:

• 2025Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.084 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2023Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.094 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance
• 2022Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) · exceeded a maximum contaminant level · measured 0.086 MG/L (limit 0.08 MG/L) · returned to compliance

EPA's count of 7 includes 4 repeat quarterly violations of the problems listed.

13 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 6 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).

Recent and current work

• Water tower mixers · 2026 · completed
  Mixers installed in the elevated tanks to cut water age; the city reports improved chlorine residual stability across the distribution system. Cost not…

Source: thevwindependent.com

Planned or needed

• TTHM reduction project — sluice gate replacement on the reservoir structures · $2.1 million · 2026 · planned
  Ohio EPA approved the plan in 2026; council passed an ordinance in July 2026 letting the safety-service director seek bids and award contracts. Work expected…
• Reservoir dam inundation study · $50,000 · 2023 · planned
  Mandated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources; projected to exceed $50,000. Models breach scenarios and the resulting impact on infrastructure and…

Source: thevwindependent.comthevwindependent.comthevwindependent.com

Van Wert is a small surface-water supply with real storage behind it. The two impounding reservoirs hold about 1.01 billion gallons — the city puts that at roughly 21 months of theoretical supply, or 15-16 months once the unusable bottom two feet and evaporation are subtracted. Refill depends entirely on Town Creek: two pump stations…

Source: vanwert.orgvanwert.org

Sanitary

The city runs its own wastewater treatment plant and collection system. Ohio EPA NPDES permit 2PD00006 identifies the works at 7998 S.R. 127 N. discharging to Town Creek at river mile 13.87; design flow and any CSO status were not confirmed from sources read for this entry. Sewer is billed monthly on the same bill as water: $13.11…

Storm

Not published in any source reviewed.

Source: dam.assets.ohio.govvanwert.orgthevwindependent.com

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