Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Athens Co., the Plains S.D. 1 PWS

What EPA’s and Ohio’s records show in this utility’s water: nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
3,276 people
Connections
1,278
Water source
Groundwater bought from another system
Based in
Millfield, OH
County
Athens
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

45780

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2007 to 2024. Copper at 129 mg/L (2005) is left out of this report: it is one of the results Ohio sent EPA in 2006, all at µg/L magnitudes though EPA’s file marks them mg/L.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5): Ohio’s own results, samples taken from Sept. 22, 2020 to Aug. 18, 2025, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

2.0ppb

90th percentile, 2022 to 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 2.0 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

70.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

Averaged by year, the highest was 70.5 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 73.7 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 63.5 ppb, in 2013.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

13.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

Averaged by year, the highest was 13.8 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 15.4 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 14.1 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 5 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5) results here are Ohio’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Athens Co., the Plains S.D. 1 PWS’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has the contaminants this page does not show.

  • Your own plumbing. Lead results are the 90th percentile across homes the utility samples. Your home’s service line, solder and fixtures decide yours. A certified lab test is the only way to know.

  • What it means for your health. This page reports what the records show and EPA’s limits and goals; it is not medical advice. If you are worried about a health effect, talk to a doctor or your local health department.

  • Anything after the latest data. SDWIS data is from 2026 Q3; UCMR 5 didn’t sample this utility; Ohio’s results run from Sept. 22, 2020 to Aug. 18, 2025.

Testing your own tap

Athens Co., the Plains S.D. 1 PWS’s results are for the water it sends out. What your own service line, solder and fixtures add shows up only in a test of your tap, by a lab Ohio certifies.

The 3 labs Ohio certifies closest to the area Athens Co., the Plains S.D. 1 PWS serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • SafeSource Water Analytics LLC

    McConnelsville, OH · about 29 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (740) 292-2002

  • Microbac Laboratories, Inc. - Marietta Division

    Marietta, OH · about 38 miles

    Certified for nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, PFAS

    (740) 373-4071

  • Ohio Department of Agriculture Consumer Protection Laboratory

    Reynoldsburg, OH · about 54 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (614) 728-6230

All 76 certified labs for Ohio

Sources

PWSID OH0500303. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Athens County

All Ohio utilities

What to do next