Water system
Belpre City
EPA ID OH8400012 · Washington County · 6,441 people served · owned by a local government
Belpre City treats its own water from Groundwater wells (5 wells).
The system's record
- Active wells
- 5
- Serves
- 6,441 people · Washington County
- EPA ID
- OH8400012
About this area's water
Did you know
- Belpre's GAC filtration system for removing C8 (PFOA) was built and is maintained by DuPont at no cost to the city, under a class-action settlement; the contamination was found after discovery of C8 in the Lubeck, WV…
- The city's name comes from the French phrase 'Belle Prairie,' meaning 'beautiful meadow' — a name French trappers gave the valley before American settlers arrived in 1788.
- The B&O Railroad's Parkersburg Bridge across the Ohio River at Belpre, completed in 1870, was reportedly the longest bridge in the world at 7,140 feet.
Source: cityofbelpre.comen.wikipedia.org
History6
- 1788Belpre settled; the name comes from 'Belle Prairie' (French for 'beautiful meadow'), a name French trappers gave the valley before American settlement.
- 1964Belpre's wastewater treatment plant built, designed for 1.5 MGD with a 5 MGD maximum flow.
- 2002Ohio EPA completed a Source Water Assessment for the City of Belpre in August 2002.
- 2006On March 1, 2006 a Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) remediation system for removal of C8 (ammonium perfluorooctanoate/PFOA) went on-line, provided by DuPont at no cost to the city under a class-action…
- 2024Water rates set by Ordinance 8 (2024-25): residential inside city $13.14 base plus $2.32 per 1,000 gallons, effective 10/01/2024.
- 2025Ordinance 33 (2024-25), passed November 24, 2025, adopted a new Exhibit B to Code Section 939.04 imposing a 20% water rate increase effective October 1, 2025.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Groundwater drawn from wells fed by the Ohio River Valley aquifer; the system produces an average of 1 million gallons per day. Water is chlorinated (chlorine residual 1.9 ppm in 2024) and, since March 1, 2006, runs through a DuPont-provided Granular Activated Carbon system for C8/PFOA removal…
Source: cityofbelpre.comcityofbelpre.com
Water pressure
Not published. Neither the 2024 CCR nor the Public Works Department page gives system pressure or pressure-zone figures.
Source: cityofbelpre.comcityofbelpre.com
What it costs
$2.78 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $30 a month for water.
Effective 10/01/2025 (Ordinance 33, 2024-25, Exhibit B — a 20% increase over the prior schedule): residential customers inside Belpre city limits pay a $15.77 monthly base rate…
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate Level found 4.00 ppm; the CCR prints the range as 4.33-4.33. The city cites the regular presence of nitrate as evidence… | 4.00 ppm | 10 | 2024 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Disinfection byproduct; range 0.5-2.2 ppb. | 1 ppb | 80 | 2024 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Disinfection byproduct; range 0-2.5 ppb. | 1 ppb | 60 | 2023 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits; discharge of drilling wastes and from metal refineries. | 0.0876 ppm | 2 | 2022 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 25 samples exceeded the action level. The CCR states the distribution system has no lead… | 3.4 ppb | 15 (AL) | 2024 |
| Copper (90th percentile) Well below the action level; the CCR's sample-count line reads '0 of the 0 samples' exceeded. | 0.16 ppm | 1.3 (AL) | 2024 |
| PFAS (6 compounds) Sampled under the State of Ohio's PFAS Sampling Initiative; none of the six compounds detected in finished water. | ND n/a | n/a | 2020 |
| Chlorine Residual disinfectant; range 1.80-1.90 ppm. | 1.9 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2024 |
| Fluoride Well below the optimal fluoridation range, indicating naturally occurring fluoride rather than active fluoridation. | 0.12 ppm | 4 | 2022 |
| Atrazine Runoff from herbicide used on row crops; simazine also detected at 0.16 ppb the same year. | 0.17 ppb | 3 | 2021 |
Source: cityofbelpre.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 3 ppb in 2025 (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
5 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 4 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
- DuPont-funded Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) C8 removal system · 2006 · completed
On-line March 1, 2006. Provided by DuPont at no cost to the city for construction or maintenance under the C8 class-action settlement; Belpre Public Works… - Lead service line inventory · 2024 · completed
Completed using potholing of service lines, visual inspections, a lead line survey, mailings to homeowners for self-inspection, and door-to-door visual… - Water storage facility and water capital improvement program · under construction
Funded by the $4.00 and $2.00 monthly water improvement charges carried on every water bill; the city's bill explainer labels these lines 'STORAGE FAC & WATER…
Supply stress
Ohio EPA classifies Belpre as a high-susceptibility system based on high aquifer sensitivity. The 2024 CCR states the aquifer has a high sensitivity to contamination 'as indicated by the regular presence of nitrate and the past presence of 1,1,1 trichloroethane in the treated water,' which indicates a man-made source of pollution reached…
Source: cityofbelpre.com
Sewers
Sanitary
City of Belpre Public Works operates its own wastewater treatment plant, built in 1964 and designed for 1.5 million gallons per day with a maximum flow of 5 MGD. Average daily flow is 760,000 gallons. It uses an activated sludge process with screens, grit removal, clarification tanks, aeration and chlorination, staffed by 5 licensed…
Storm
We found no separate storm sewer utility or rate. The city's CCR carries storm water education from the Washington Soil and Water Conservation District, whose storm water coordinator serves the area, and notes that some runoff infiltrates to the aquifer…
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
- 45714 · Belpre69% 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
Belpre City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from Belpre City.
What the records show about Belpre City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Belpre City as owned by a local government. It has 3,200 service connections and serves 6,441 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 740-423-7592.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Belpre City: chlorine disinfection, fluoridation, and granular activated carbon.
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 Belpre 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 5 violations of any kind since 2020: 4 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 2025, the 90th-percentile lead result at Belpre City was 3 ppb, under both the current 15 ppb action level and the 10 ppb level that applies from 2027.
The highest result on file is 14 ppb, in the period ending December 2021.
EPA has 8 sampling periods on file for Belpre City since 2016, the first ending in 2016; 1 of the 8 periods went above 10 ppb.
Every water system has to inventory its service lines, the pipes from the main to each building. In the inventory Belpre City sent EPA, 3,290 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 58 |
| Unknown material | 3,014 |
| Not lead | 218 |
| All lines | 3,290 |
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 3 samples of the water entering the pipes of Belpre City in 2025 and measured 29 PFAS.
PFOA and PFOS were not detected, against a federal limit of 4 ng/L each.
The highest PFAS results were PFBA 21 ng/L and PFPeA 16 ng/L.
The system reported PFAS treatment: granular activated carbon.
The system reported potential PFAS sources near its supply.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Belpre City (latest sample July 2020). Not one of the six PFAS tested (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS) was detected.
| Compound | Highest result | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFOA | not detected | 4 ng/L |
| PFOS | not detected | 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 Belpre City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 0 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 7.7 µg/L and the highest single sample was 12.2 µg/L, from 14 samples taken from 2013 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 0 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 0.6 µg/L and the highest single sample was 1.2 µg/L, from 14 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 0 µg/L (2019) | 7.7 µg/L | 12.2 µg/L | 14 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 0 µg/L | 0.6 µg/L | 1.2 µg/L | 14 |
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: the highest of 8 samples was 4.61 mg/L (as nitrogen), in 2019, the last year sampled. 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) | 8 | 4.61 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.
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 all nine herbicides and metals it checked. Detected: barium in 3 of 3 samples, highest 93.8 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: atrazine, alachlor, 2,4-D, 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 |
| 2,4-D | Farm chemical | 70 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 | 3 of 3 | 93.8 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, 1 of 732 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Belpre City tested positive (0.14%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 84 did. E. coli was never found in the 1 sample 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 Belpre City adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Belpre City.
Measured fluoride: 0.94 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.89 to 0.94 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 not detected in 2 UCMR 5 samples at Belpre City, last sampled in 2025 (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.
How well the service area is mapped
EPA estimated the service area of Belpre 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 7,029 residents are inside the boundary, 109% of the 6,441 people Belpre 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 — 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 OH8400012 (EPA ECHO).
Notable facts: cityofbelpre.com, en.wikipedia.org
History: cityofbelpre.com, en.wikipedia.org, cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Water quality: cityofbelpre.com
Water pressure: cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Capital projects: cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Rates: cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Sewers: cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Treatment: cityofbelpre.com, cityofbelpre.com
Supply stress: cityofbelpre.com
