Water system
Wooster City
EPA ID OH8504512 · Wayne County · 26,618 people served · owned by a local government
Wooster City treats its own water from Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer (own wells).
The system's record
- Aquifer
- Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer
- Active wells
- 7
- Serves
- 26,618 people · Wayne County
- EPA ID
- OH8504512
Wooster pumps 7 wells from the sand-and-gravel Killbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer beneath the city; has an Ohio EPA-endorsed Source Water Protection Plan.
About this area's water
Did you know
- Wooster's water comes from a buried glacial valley that USGS measured at about 3,000 feet wide and 100 feet deep, hidden under the modern creek bed and surrounding farmland.
- USGS's 1994 model of the valley found that of the water pumped from the aquifer, only about 8% is induced infiltration from Killbuck Creek - 63% arrives from the uplands and 23% from areal recharge in the valley. Total…
- For four decades the city has been pumping and treating contaminated ground water from a 1983 industrial spill - roughly 253 million gallons a year that never reaches a tap - through a chain of three interceptor wells…
- When PFAS turned up in two South Wellfield wells in 2023-24, Wooster simply switched them off in February 2024 rather than treat around them - and has reported non-detect finished water for all six regulated PFAS ever…
- Better lab equipment, not worse water, is what found the PFAS: minimum detection levels dropped from 10 parts per trillion in the 2020 sampling to 2 parts per trillion by 2023.
History6
- 1983Ohio EPA discovers volatile organic compounds in the raw water supply; the source is determined to be surface spillage migrating from a nearby industrial plant upgradient of the production well.
- 1985First interceptor well installed to capture contaminated ground water before it reaches the production wells.
- 1989Second interceptor well added.
- 1994USGS publishes Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4131, a ground-water flow model of the Killbuck Creek valley near Wooster.
- 1998The Wooster Water Production Facility at 1020 Old Columbus Road is commissioned.
- 2006Third interceptor well installed, continuing the pump-and-treat containment of the 1983 plume.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
The Wooster Water Production Facility at 1020 Old Columbus Road was commissioned in 1998 and is an Ohio EPA Class III operation. Water is pumped from seven wells in two well fields (North and South) drawing on the sand-and-gravel buried valley aquifer under the confluence of the Upper Killbuck…
Source: woosteroh.comwoosteroh.com
Water pressure
No pressures published. The city states it maintains and operates 8 elevated and ground storage tanks of varying sizes at strategic locations in the distribution system; no psi…
Source: woosteroh.com
What it costs
Current rates could not be verified: the City of Wooster's rates page advertises 'WATER RATES for CITY WEB PAGE-EFFECTIVE 2-1-2026' and a matching sewer schedule, but both links…
Source: woosteroh.comweb.archive.org
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range of detections 29.8-57.4 ppb. No violation. | 42.58 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) Range 0-7.1 ppb. | 3.65 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Total chlorine Range 0.96-1.12 ppm. | 1.08 ppm | 4 (MRDL) | 2025 |
| Barium Well below the MCL. | 0.038 ppm | 2 | 2025 |
| Xylene Range 0.00069-0.0007 ppm. The only VOC still showing in the detected-contaminants table. | 0.0007 ppm | 10 | 2021 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 30 samples over the action level. The city reports no lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement or unknown-material… | 1.89 ppb | 15 (action… | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 30 samples over the action level. | 0.0317 ppm | 1.3 (action… | 2025 |
| PFAS (six regulated compounds) All four 2025 quarterly finished-water samples were non-detect for PFOA, PFOS, HFPO-DA, PFBS, PFHxS and PFNA - achieved… | non-detect ppt | varies by… | 2025 |
| Hardness Yearly average from the plant's own operational data; the plant softens. | 118.28 mg/L | no standard… | 2025 |
| Manganese Yearly average, below the aesthetic secondary standard. Iron averaged 0.04 mg/L against a 0.3 mg/L secondary standard. | 0.025 mg/L | 0.05 (secondary) | 2025 |
Source: woosteroh.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 2.1 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 2 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans7
Recent and current work
- Interceptor well system (three wells) and air stripping for the 1983 VOC plume · 1985-2006 · completed
Wells installed 1985, 1989 and 2006; still running, treating about 253 million gallons a year of contaminated source water that is not used for drinking water. - Wells S-1 and S-2 removed from service for PFAS · 2024 · completed
Taken offline in February 2024 after PFAS were detected in both wells and in finished water; finished water has been PFAS non-detect since. - Combined sewer separation program (15 projects) · $9.3 million · completed
The city reports 15 completed separation projects totaling $9,276,235.13 to improve storm and sewage conveyance and reduce combined sewer areas. Individual… - Test wells and drilling of production well S-4 · 2025 · under construction
Test wells to site new production wells S-4 and S-5 in the south end of the South Wellfield are complete; drilling of S-4 is finished. No cost published.
Source: woosteroh.comwoosteroh.comwoosteroh.com
Planned or needed
- Production well S-4 in service · 2026 · under construction
Expected in service by late 2026 with a design capacity of 3.25 MGD, restoring supply lost when S-1 and S-2 were idled. No cost published. - Production well S-5 · planned
Second replacement well in the south end of the South Wellfield; test drilling complete, no schedule or cost published. - Federal PFAS MCL compliance · 2027 · planned
The April 2024 USEPA rule requires quarterly finished-water PFAS sampling and compliance with MCLs for six PFAS by 2027; the city notes the compliance date is…
Source: woosteroh.com
Supply stress
Wooster's ground water has high susceptibility to contamination, as the city itself states, evidenced by contamination in the South Wellfield. The wellhead protection area contains several industrial activities, underground storage tanks and abandoned landfills flagged as high-priority potential sources. VOCs have been detected in well…
Sewers
Sanitary
The city operates its own sanitary collection system and Water Resource Recovery function under the Utilities Division. Parts of Wooster are served by combined sewers and parts by separate sanitary sewers; the city is permitted to operate two combined sewer overflow structures during wet weather, and has completed 15 sewer separation…
Storm
The city runs a separate storm water utility with its own rate schedule (storm sewer rates effective 3-1-2026, billed monthly alongside water, sewer and trash) and a storm water maintenance function under Public Properties Maintenance. Rate amounts could not…
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
- 44691 · Wooster60% 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
Wooster 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 Wooster City.
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
Wooster City's own pages: usgs.gov, woosteroh.com
Notable facts: doi.org, woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com
History: woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com, doi.org
Water quality: woosteroh.com
Planned work: woosteroh.com
Water pressure: woosteroh.com
Capital projects: woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com
Rates: woosteroh.com, web.archive.org
Sewers: woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com
Treatment: woosteroh.com, woosteroh.com
Supply stress: woosteroh.com, doi.org, pubs.usgs.gov