South Lebanon City

Who runs it

EPA's record describes South Lebanon City as owned by a local government. It has 1,297 service connections and serves 3,891 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 513-770-4871.

Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.

How the water is treated

South Lebanon City buys water that Cincinnati Public Water System treats first, so the steps that count are the seller's. EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Cincinnati Public Water System: corrosion control, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, granular activated carbon, lime softening, powdered activated carbon, and sand or media filtration.

South Lebanon City adds nothing of its own on that table.

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's record shows no health-based violations for South Lebanon City since 2015.

EPA logs 9 violations of any kind since 2020: 3 for required testing that was missed or reported late; 6 for a report, record or notice that was missing, late or incomplete (the yearly water quality report, a public notice, lead line records).

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 South Lebanon City was 1 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.

The highest result on file is 1.1 ppb, in the period ending December 2020.

EPA has 8 sampling periods on file for South Lebanon City since 2016, the first ending in 2018; 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 South Lebanon City sent EPA, 1,292 lines are counted.

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 South Lebanon City in 2023 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 2 plants of Cincinnati Public Water System (latest sample March 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.

Ohio EPA's current sampling status map lists 2 plants of Cincinnati Public Water System as sampled, most recently August 2026.

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 South Lebanon City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 47.7 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 50.3 µg/L and the highest single sample was 81.6 µg/L, from 57 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.

For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 7.4 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 11.2 µg/L and the highest single sample was 23.6 µg/L, from 57 samples.

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 South Lebanon City buys is treated by Cincinnati Public Water System, so the results below are Cincinnati Public Water System's.

Nitrate: the highest of 119 samples was 1.55 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2015; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 1.3 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.

Arsenic was not detected in 16 samples (limit 10 µg/L).

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.

EPA's file lumps the entry-point samples of all 2 plants of Cincinnati Public Water System together, so a result over a limit may come from a plant that serves a different part of town.

Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Cincinnati Public Water System.

Solvents and fuels

The water South Lebanon City buys is treated by Cincinnati Public Water System, so the results below are Cincinnati Public Water System'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 11 samples each.

"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 Cincinnati Public Water System.

Farm chemicals and metals

The water South Lebanon City buys is treated by Cincinnati Public Water System, so the results below are Cincinnati Public Water System's.

EPA's file holds results for 8 of the nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 16 of 16 samples, highest 54 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine in 11 samples, alachlor in 11 samples, chromium in 16 samples, cadmium in 16 samples, mercury in 16 samples, selenium in 16 samples, thallium in 16 samples.

Non-detects count as zero in the highest-result column.

EPA's file lumps the entry-point samples of all 2 plants of Cincinnati Public Water System together, so a result over a limit may come from a plant that serves a different part of town.

Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, finished water of Cincinnati Public Water System.

Bacteria in the pipes

From 2012 to 2019, 1 of 444 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at South Lebanon City tested positive (0.23%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 60 did. E. coli was never found in the 414 samples tested for it.

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 South Lebanon City buys its water from Cincinnati Public Water System, 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 Cincinnati Public Water System, which treats the water South Lebanon City buys.

Measured fluoride: 0.81 mg/L on average leaving the plants of Cincinnati Public Water System, which supplies South Lebanon City, in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.79 to 0.98 mg/L across 16 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 South Lebanon City, 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 South Lebanon City buys is treated by Cincinnati Public Water System, so the results below are Cincinnati Public Water System'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 288 raw-water samples, across 1 bloom season (2019); the highest raw-water result was 0.46 µg/L on October 2, 2019. There has been no raw-water detection since 2024.

Microcystin was never detected in treated water (285 samples).

In all, 573 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 25, 2026.

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).

Water and sewer bills

Ohio EPA's 2023 rate survey puts the water bill at South Lebanon City for a household using 5,000 gallons a month at $484 a year, about $40 a month.

The sewer bill in the same survey is $517 a year at 5,000 gallons a month.

The survey lists it as “South Lebanon”. These are inside-city rates and annual bills at the use shown.

Source: Ohio EPA 2023 Sewer and Water Rate Survey (Ohio State University, May 2025).

How well the service area is mapped

EPA estimated the service area of South Lebanon City 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 3,857 residents are inside the boundary, 99% of the 3,891 people South Lebanon 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.