Water system
Bowling Green City
EPA ID OH8700311 · Wood County · 31,578 people served · owned by a local government
Bowling Green City treats its own water from Maumee River (via Bowling Green Reservoir).
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Maumee River, Bowling Green Reservoir
- Raw intakes
- Reservoir
Maumee River - Serves
- 31,578 people · Wood County
- EPA ID
- OH8700311
About this area's water
Did you know
- The city only draws from the Maumee when the river is of high quality, banking it in a 170-million-gallon above-ground reservoir that holds about 30 days of raw water.
- Bowling Green runs two independent treatment trains side by side - conventional sand filtration and a microfiltration/reverse-osmosis membrane system - then blends the two finished waters.
- About 90 miles of water main, ranging from 6 to 36 inches, feed roughly 9,000 water meters.
- The plant started in 1950 at just 3 MGD; after the 2020 membrane expansion it is rated about 10.7 MGD in summer.
History5
- 1950Original Bowling Green water treatment plant built with a 3.0 MGD capacity; expanded to 6 MGD in 1968 with added filters and clarifiers.
- 1990The 170-million-gallon above-ground raw water reservoir was built, letting the city bank Maumee River water when quality is good.
- 2011First 3 MGD microfiltration / reverse osmosis system installed at the plant (2011-2012), adding a membrane train alongside sand filtration.
- 2020Two more microfiltration trains completed; the plant's final rating reached 10.03 MGD in winter and 10.7 MGD in summer.
- 2026A new water rate schedule was approved January 12, 2026, effective April 1, 2026, raising the residential customer charge to $4.25/month.
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Two independent trains treat reservoir-stored Maumee water: conventional multi-barrier (rapid sand filters) and Integrated Membrane (microfiltration + reverse osmosis); GAC and UV also used. The two finished waters are blended, chlorinated and fluoridated.
Water pressure
Not published in the CCR, the Water Distribution page, or other city water pages.
What it costs
$2.81 per 1,000 gallons
Typical household bill about $18 a month for water.
Inside-city residential effective 4/1/2026 (approved 1/12/2026): $0.021/cu ft (~$2.81/1,000 gal) plus $4.25/mo meter charge; bill shown for 5,000 gal/mo.
Water quality & impurities8
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Chlorination byproduct; single results ran 34.3-85.7 ppb, above the 80 MCL at times. | 66.6 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Chlorination byproduct; range 8.3-27.7 ppb, comfortably under the MCL. | 23.1 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Nitrate (as N) Peaked at 7.3 ppm, 73% of the MCL; range <0.2-7.3. Fertilizer and sewage runoff. | 7.3 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Turbidity Filter performance indicator; range 0.02-0.10, 100% of samples met the standard. | 0.10 NTU | 0.3 (TT) | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) 0 of 31 household samples over the action level. | <4 ppb | 15 (AL) | 2025 |
| Copper (90th percentile) 0 of 31 household samples over the action level. | 0.029 ppm | 1.3 (AL) | 2025 |
| Fluoride Water additive for dental health plus natural deposits; range 0.87-1.18. | 1.03 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| PFAS (6 regulated compounds) UCMR5 monitoring done, but the CCR publishes no results; available by phone request. | not reported ppt | 4 (PFOA/PFOS… | 2023-202… |
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 0 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
2 violations of any kind logged since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
Projects & plans2
Recent and current work
- Rapid sand filter rebuild and fluoride building · 2016-2017 · completed
Six rapid sand filters rebuilt with new filter bottoms and air added to the backwash cycle. - Microfiltration train expansion · 2020 · completed
Two more microfiltration trains added to feed the RO membranes; plant then rated 10.03 MGD winter and 10.7 MGD summer.
Supply stress
Ohio EPA revised the source water assessment in 2025; all Ohio surface waters are rated susceptible, and the Maumee protection area holds farm runoff, industrial storm water, feed lots and wastewater discharges. The CCR names TTHMs as its one historic compliance exception.
Sewers
Sanitary
City-run Bowling Green WWTP, an Ohio EPA Class IV plant rated 10 MGD average and 30 MGD peak wet-weather flow: screening, primary settling, aeration, secondary settling, tertiary treatment and UV disinfection; biosolids are aerobically digested into topsoil additive. Opened 1982, expanded 2005.
Storm
Partly combined: one CSO outfall near E. Poe Rd and Mercer Rd discharges to the E. Poe Road ditch in large wet-weather events, with public notice under 40 CFR 122.38. No stormwater fee found.
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 2 ZIP codes
Serves
Main water supplier in 2 ZIP codes
- 43403 · Bowling Green100% of residents
- 43402 · Bowling Green79% 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
Bowling Green City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
7 systems on record buy water from Bowling Green City: Grand Rapids Village, Liberty Center Village, Northwestern W and SD - Middleton Twp, Northwestern W and SD - Portage, Northwestern W and SD - Weston, Tontogany Village, Waterville City.
What the records show about Bowling Green City
Who runs it
EPA's record describes Bowling Green City as owned by a local government. It has 12,986 service connections and serves 31,578 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 2023. Its office telephone on EPA's record is 419-354-6246.
Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), water system record.
How the water is treated
EPA's treatment table registers these steps for Bowling Green City: aeration, corrosion control, cartridge filtration, coagulation and settling, chlorine disinfection, iron and manganese removal, fluoridation, granular activated carbon, lime softening, reverse osmosis, sand or media filtration, and ultraviolet disinfection.
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 Bowling Green City since 2015.
EPA logs 2 violations of any kind since 2020: 2 for required testing that was missed or reported late.
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 Bowling Green City 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 10 sampling periods on file for Bowling Green City 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 Bowling Green City sent EPA, 7,200 lines are counted.
| Material | Lines |
|---|---|
| Lead | 0 |
| Galvanized, needing replacement | 69 |
| Unknown material | 0 |
| Not lead | 7,131 |
| All lines | 7,200 |
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 Bowling Green City in 2023 to 2024 and measured 29 PFAS.
PFOA and PFOS were not detected, against a federal limit of 4 ng/L each.
The highest PFAS results were PFPeA 9.6 ng/L, PFHxA 6.9 ng/L, and PFBA 6.7 ng/L.
Ohio EPA's own statewide sampling tested 1 plant of Bowling Green City (latest sample September 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 1 plant of Bowling Green City as sampled, most recently March 2024.
| 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 Bowling Green City's samples in 2019, the last year it was sampled, was 37.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 50.3 µg/L and the highest single sample was 82.8 µg/L, from 132 samples taken from 2012 to 2019.
For HAA5, the average in the last year sampled was 12.6 µg/L. The worst yearly average was 21.2 µg/L and the highest single sample was 35.9 µg/L, from 128 samples.
| Byproduct | Limit | Latest yearly average | Worst yearly average | Highest sample | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 80 µg/L | 37.6 µg/L (2019) | 50.3 µg/L | 82.8 µg/L | 132 |
| HAA5 | 60 µg/L | 12.6 µg/L | 21.2 µg/L | 35.9 µg/L | 128 |
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 174 samples was 8.68 mg/L (as nitrogen) in 2013; in 2019, the last year sampled, the highest was 4.12 mg/L. No sample was over the limit of 10 mg/L. Nitrate above 10 is unsafe for infants.
Arsenic was not detected in 8 samples (limit 10 µg/L).
| Contaminant | Samples | Highest result | Limit | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate (as nitrogen) | 174 | 8.68 mg/L | 10 mg/L | 0 |
| Arsenic | 8 | 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 8 samples each.
| Compound | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzene | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Trichloroethylene (TCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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: atrazine in 1 of 25 samples, highest 0.82 µg/L (limit 3); barium in 8 of 8 samples, highest 16 µg/L (limit 2,000). Not detected: alachlor in 25 samples, 2,4-D in 3 samples, chromium in 8 samples, cadmium in 8 samples, mercury in 8 samples, selenium in 8 samples, thallium in 8 samples.
| Substance | Kind | Limit | Samples | Detected in | Highest result | Samples over limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | Farm chemical | 3 µg/L | 25 | 1 of 25 | 0.82 µg/L | 0 |
| Alachlor | Farm chemical | 2 µg/L | 25 | 0 of 25 | not detected | 0 |
| 2,4-D | Farm chemical | 70 µg/L | 3 | 0 of 3 | not detected | 0 |
| Chromium | Metal | 100 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Cadmium | Metal | 5 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Barium | Metal | 2,000 µg/L | 8 | 8 of 8 | 16 µg/L | 0 |
| Mercury | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Selenium | Metal | 50 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | not detected | 0 |
| Thallium | Metal | 2 µg/L | 8 | 0 of 8 | 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, 2 of 4,992 routine total coliform samples taken in the distribution system at Bowling Green City tested positive (0.04%); in 2019, the last year on file, 0 of 626 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 Bowling Green City adjusts the fluoride level to the recommended level for preventing tooth decay.
EPA's treatment table lists fluoridation among the steps at Bowling Green City.
Measured fluoride: 1.06 mg/L on average at the plant's entry points in 2019 (in the range dentists aim for); samples ran from 0.86 to 1.13 mg/L across 8 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 Bowling Green City, last sampled in 2024 (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
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 25 times in 229 raw-water samples, across 7 bloom seasons (2016 to 2026); the highest raw-water result was 2.295 µg/L on July 24, 2018. The highest raw-water result since 2024 was 0.847 µg/L.
Microcystin was never detected in treated water (138 samples).
In all, 367 samples from 2016 to 2026, the latest on August 18, 2026.
| Water | Samples | Detections | Highest result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw water, at the intake | 229 | 25 | 2.295 µg/L |
| Treated water | 138 | 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 Bowling Green 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 30,189 residents are inside the boundary, 96% of the 31,578 people Bowling Green 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 — 2 ZIP codes 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 OH8700311 (EPA ECHO).
Bowling Green City's own pages: bgohio.gov, bgohio.gov, bgohio.gov
