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Central Ohio water and plumbing

Who supplies the water and who takes the sewage, town by town in Central Ohio

Who supplies the water at a Central Ohio address, and who takes the sewage away, is not answered by the town printed on the mail. Some suburbs buy both services from the City of Columbus, some treat their own water and send their sewage somewhere else, and some mailing addresses are not inside the town they name at all. This page sets out, place by place, what each utility and each agency says about its own water and its own sewage, in their words, and marks plainly the places where nobody has said. It names a treatment plant only where a page names one.

Last updated September 2026 · Provider statements are the utilities' and the agencies' own, and the address findings are the Census Bureau geocoder's, read September 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base

Why the town on the envelope does not answer it

Three ordinary questions in a bathroom project run back to one: whose water quality report describes what comes out of the shower head, whose published hardness figure applies to the glass, and who has to be called before a water line is shut off. All three are answered by the utility that serves the address, which in Central Ohio is often not the town printed on the mail.

A mailing address is a postal fact: it says nothing about which municipality the ground belongs to or which utility owns the pipe in the street. One public instrument answers the first half: the Census Bureau's geocoder returns, for a single street address, the incorporated place and the county subdivision it falls in, and an address that comes back with a county subdivision and no incorporated place is unincorporated township land.

Ten addresses were put through it in September 2026. 10333 Olentangy River Road, Powell, returned Liberty township in Delaware County; that address is the county sewer district's own Olentangy Environmental Control Center, standing outside the City of Powell. 8600 Columbus Pike and 680 Lewis Center Road, both Lewis Center, returned Orange township. 6455 Taylor Road, Blacklick, returned Jefferson township in Franklin County. 5481 Buenos Aires Boulevard, Westerville, returned Blendon township. None of those returned an incorporated place at all. In the other direction, 7325 Worthington Galena Road, Worthington, returned Columbus city, and at the Linworth crossroads 2246 West Dublin Granville Road returned Columbus city while 2075 West Dublin Granville Road, a short distance east, returned Worthington city in Sharon township. 3222 and 4400 North High Street, in Clintonville and Beechwold, both returned Columbus city.

Read those for what they are: single addresses, queried one at a time, and no statement about how often a mailing address and a municipality part company. Three further addresses returned no match. Who treats the water has two public inventories behind it. The federal Safe Drinking Water Information System records whether an Ohio public water system's water is surface water, groundwater or purchased from another system, and names the system a purchased connection buys from. Ohio EPA publishes the same inventory through its Drinking Water Viewer, which replaced the tool formerly called Drinking Water Watch.

Who supplies the water and who takes the sewage, town by town

Every cell below is what that utility or agency says about itself, and where no source read for this page states an answer the cell says so rather than filling the space with an inference.

Two rules govern those blanks. Columbus Water and Power publishes one list of the communities it provides water and sewer service to under contract, naming Bexley, Dublin, Gahanna, Grandview, Grove City, Groveport, Hilliard, Marble Cliff, New Albany, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, Whitehall and Worthington among them; it covers water contracts and sewer contracts together, so it shows that Columbus serves a town but never which of the two services, and the department's own documents give more than one total, so no count of them appears here. The second rule is about plants: only Upper Arlington and Groveport name the Columbus plant that takes their sewage, so none is named for the rest.

PlaceWater, and where it comes fromSewage, and the plant where one is named
BexleyThe City of Columbus. Bexley says its water and sewer services are purchased from the City of Columbus.Columbus, under the same purchase. No plant named.
BlacklickUnincorporated Jefferson Township, and two utilities: by the federal inventory, the Jefferson Water and Sewer District on seven wells of its own, with Columbus as an emergency connection only, and Aqua Ohio on four of its own.The Jefferson district in its own area. Aqua Ohio holds an Ohio EPA permit for its own Blacklick plant, discharging to Blacklick Creek.
Blendon Township, on a Westerville mailing addressAqua Ohio's Huber Ridge system, on wells of its own, by the federal inventory.Not stated by the utility's own page.
Canal WinchesterIts own. The city says it operates and maintains an ion-exchange water treatment facility and distribution system, on five wells by the federal inventory.Its own plant. Ohio EPA says it serves Canal Winchester, the Village of Lithopolis and portions of the City of Pickerington, discharging to Walnut Creek.
ColumbusThe city's own. Columbus assigns every address to one of three water plants: Dublin Road, Hap Cremean on Morse Road, and Parsons Avenue, which draws on wells.The city's own. Columbus says Jackson Pike serves the central and western half of Franklin County and Southerly serves eastern Franklin County.
DelawareIts own. The city says its primary water source is the Olentangy River, which it can blend with groundwater from wells drilled more than 200 feet deep.Its own Upper Olentangy Water Reclamation Center, which returns the treated water to the Olentangy River.
DublinThe City of Columbus. Dublin says it owns no water or wastewater treatment facilities, and that its agreements with Columbus were entered on April 13, 1993 and run to 2043.Columbus, through the city's collection and treatment system, Dublin says, with limited areas sewered by Delaware County instead. No plant named.
GahannaGahanna says public drinking water is provided by the City of Columbus.Sent to Columbus for treatment. No plant named.
GalenaNot stated by the utility's own page. The federal inventory records the village's own system deactivated in 1995, and Galena says sewer service is billed monthly from Del-Co Water.The village's own plant, which Galena says discharges into Big Walnut Creek at the head of Hoover Reservoir.
Grandview HeightsGrandview Heights says the City of Columbus maintains all the potable water provided to the city.Columbus Water and Power lists Grandview among the communities it serves with water and sewer; Grandview Heights maintains the sanitary mains. No plant named.
Grove CityNot stated by the utility's own page. Columbus Water and Power's contract list names Grove City, and the Columbus map places it in the Parsons Avenue plant's area.Not stated by the utility's own page.
GroveportSplit. The water department says it receives its drinking water from two underground wells, while the city says addresses on the Columbus system are billed differently. Its emergency connection to Columbus went unused in 2025.The City of Columbus. Groveport says all wastewater produced in the city is treated at the Southerly plant.
HilliardHilliard says the Columbus Division of Water provides water and sewer services for Hilliard residents.The same sentence covers both. No plant named.
Lewis CenterNot stated by the utility's own page. Delaware County names Del-Co Water as the county's provider and the sewer district directs water questions to Del-Co, but neither names Lewis Center.By the county's general rule only: its Regional Sewer District serves the unincorporated areas, and the geocoder places Lewis Center in Orange township.
LinworthNot stated by the utility's own page; no source read here defines Linworth's extent.Not stated by the utility's own page. The geocoder returned Columbus city at the Linworth crossroads and Worthington city a short distance east.
Marble CliffNot stated by the utility's own page. Columbus Water and Power's contract list names the village, and the Columbus map places it in the Dublin Road plant's area.Not stated by the utility's own page.
New AlbanyNew Albany says it owns all the water mains inside the city and contracts with Columbus to provide water service and to maintain them.Through city sanitary sewers to the City of Columbus to be treated, New Albany says. No plant named.
NewarkIts own. Newark says its raw water is withdrawn from the North Fork of the Licking River through mechanical screens along the bank.Its own plant. Ohio EPA says it serves Newark and the Village of St. Louisville and discharges to the Licking River. Newark's collection system is part combined.
PickeringtonIts own wells. Pickerington says its drinking water comes from five wells at the water plant site west of Diley Road, in the Newark River aquifer.Its own plant on Hill Road South, which the village built in 1974. Ohio EPA records portions of the city sewered to Canal Winchester instead.
PowellThe City of Powell names Del-Co Water Company.The City of Powell names the Delaware County Regional Sewer District.
ReynoldsburgThe City of Columbus. Reynoldsburg says water and sewer services are purchased from Columbus and billed through its own office.Columbus, under the same purchase. No plant named.
SunburyNot its own any more. The federal inventory records the village system deactivated in 2005, and Sunbury says a Del-Co Water account is required first, since Del-Co reads the meters.The village's own plant, commissioned in 1967 by Sunbury's account, whose final effluent goes to Prairie Run, a tributary of Big Walnut Creek.
Upper ArlingtonUpper Arlington says its potable water is provided by the City of Columbus, from the Dublin Road and Morse Road plants.Upper Arlington says its sanitary sewer conveys all wastewater to the Jackson Pike plant, which discharges to the Scioto River.
WestervilleIts own plant on West Main Street, which the city says treats water from Alum Creek and various underground wells. Westerville says it has operated a public water supply since 1901.Not its own. Westerville says all wastewater generated in the city is treated by the City of Columbus or the Delaware County Sewage District by contract.
WorthingtonWorthington says its water supply is provided by the City of Columbus, which also maintains the main water lines. Federal records show Aqua Ohio running a Worthington Hills system on its own wells.Worthington says its sanitary sewer carries wastewater to a Columbus treatment plant, and does not name which one.

The patterns the table shows

On Columbus by contract, in two different shapes

Most Franklin County places above buy from Columbus, and not all the same way. Bexley, Gahanna and Reynoldsburg each hold a public water system number of their own in the federal inventory, recorded as buying surface water through a named connection from the Columbus system. The other shape has no system at all: Dublin says it owns no water or wastewater treatment facilities, and the federal record carries a Dublin groundwater system deactivated in 1989, while the federal inventory carries no separate Grove City public water system, an absence in a database rather than anyone's statement.

The towns that treat their own water

Westerville, Delaware, Newark, Pickerington, Canal Winchester and Groveport all treat their own drinking water, from sources with little in common: Alum Creek and its own wells at Westerville, the Olentangy blended with deep groundwater at Delaware, the North Fork of the Licking River at Newark, five wells in what Pickerington calls the Newark River aquifer, an ion-exchange plant at Canal Winchester and two wells at Groveport. Sunbury belongs in that list only in the past tense: the federal inventory records its village system deactivated in 2005, and Galena's in 1995.

Westerville and Groveport, two answers at one address

Westerville's line is the most counter-intuitive: the city runs a water plant and treats none of its own sewage. It says all wastewater generated in Westerville is treated by the City of Columbus or the Delaware County Sewage District by contractual agreement. The district's own name is the Delaware County Regional Sewer District. Groveport is split the other way about: its own wells behind some addresses, a Columbus contract behind others, billed differently, while all of its sewage goes to the Southerly plant.

Blacklick, a district and a private utility

Blacklick has no municipality behind it. Jefferson Township says its Jefferson Water and Sewer District was chartered under section 6119 of the Ohio Revised Code and created in 1987 to serve the township, and the federal inventory records the district pumping its own groundwater from seven wells, holding Columbus as an emergency connection. Aqua Ohio has the rest. By that same federal record the company runs three community water systems in Franklin County, each on its own wells with a municipal connection behind it: Blacklick, Huber Ridge in Blendon Township and Worthington Hills. Under an Ohio EPA permit it also runs a Blacklick wastewater plant discharging to Blacklick Creek, so there one company is both utilities. Columbus's own page names townships such as Blendon, served by Aqua Ohio, among the places it does not serve; that three-system roster is the federal inventory's, since Aqua Ohio publishes no service area list.

The Delaware County rule, and the case it does not describe

Delaware County states it plainly: its Regional Sewer District serves the unincorporated areas of the county, the townships, while municipal sewer systems serve the individual cities and villages. The district adds that it provides only sewer service and directs water questions to Del-Co Water. The villages bear the rule out, since Sunbury and Galena each run a plant of their own. Powell is the case the rule does not describe: it is a municipality, and the City of Powell names the Regional Sewer District as its sewer provider and Del-Co Water Company as its water provider.

Del-Co describes itself as a member-owned, non-profit cooperative with a service area extending into eight central Ohio counties, drawing on the Olentangy River, the O'Shaughnessy Reservoir and the Alum Creek Reservoir and on groundwater from a Knox County well field. Galena's outfall runs the other way: the village says its plant discharges into Big Walnut Creek at the head of Hoover Reservoir, which is the reservoir the Hap Cremean plant treats, as the water supply page sets out. Both statements are their own; the join is geography.

What this decides in a house

The annual water quality report that describes what comes out of a tap belongs to the utility that treats the water, not to the town on the envelope: a Westerville household reads Westerville's, a Powell household reads Del-Co's, a Bexley household the City of Columbus's. What such a report is and how to read it is on the water quality report page. Hardness is the part a shower actually feels, and the figures for Columbus, Westerville and Del-Co are on the hardness page; a house on none of those three systems is not described by any of them.

Outside every system here a house is on a private well and usually a septic system, which the wells and septic page covers; what happens after the water leaves the house is on the sewers page.

Who to call before the water goes off is the question these pages answer least often. Bexley and Reynoldsburg purchase the service from Columbus and bill through their own city offices. Groveport bills its own water customers and its Columbus-supplied customers differently, so which side of town a house is on decides who answers. Sunbury will not open a sewer account without a Del-Co account. Where the table is blank, the name on the water bill settles it, which is a plain inference rather than any utility's statement.

The short version. Most Franklin County suburbs buy water and sewer service from the City of Columbus, some as separate systems and some with no system of their own. Westerville, Delaware, Newark, Pickerington, Canal Winchester and Groveport treat their own drinking water, and Westerville treats none of its own sewage. Blacklick belongs to the Jefferson Water and Sewer District and to Aqua Ohio. In Delaware County the Regional Sewer District serves the townships and the municipalities serve themselves, except in Powell. Where a page names no provider and no plant, this one says so rather than guessing.

Sources

Every figure, date and quotation on this page comes from one of these documents, read on the date given. Where two of them disagree, the page says so.

Common questions

Does Westerville treat its own sewage?

No. Westerville runs its own water plant on West Main Street, which the city says treats water from Alum Creek and various underground wells, and it says it has operated a public water supply since 1901. The sewage is another matter entirely. The city says all wastewater generated in Westerville is treated by the City of Columbus or the Delaware County Sewage District by contractual agreement, and that industrial pretreatment for the city is performed by Columbus under the same contract. So a Westerville address has a city water utility and somebody else's sewage treatment, and the two questions have two different answers.

How can I find out which utility supplies the water at my Central Ohio address?

Start with the bill, because the name printed on it is the utility that owns the meter. Two public inventories carry the rest. Ohio EPA publishes every Ohio public water system through its Drinking Water Viewer, which replaced the tool formerly called Drinking Water Watch, and the federal Safe Drinking Water Information System records for each system whether its water is surface water, groundwater or purchased from another system, naming the seller behind a purchased connection. The Census Bureau geocoder answers a different question, which is whether the street address is inside the city on the envelope or in an unincorporated township.

Is Lewis Center, Ohio a city or a township?

Neither, quite. Lewis Center is a mailing address rather than a municipality. The Census Bureau geocoder places Lewis Center addresses in Orange township, Delaware County, and returns no incorporated place, which is what unincorporated land looks like in that record. Blacklick is the same shape in Franklin County, where the geocoder returned Jefferson township, and a Powell mailing address on Olentangy River Road returned Liberty township rather than the City of Powell. Those are single addresses queried one at a time in September 2026, and they say nothing about how often the mail and the municipality part company.

Who provides water and sewer service in Blacklick, Ohio?

Two utilities, and neither of them is the City of Columbus. The federal drinking water inventory records the Jefferson Water and Sewer District pumping its own groundwater from seven wells, with emergency connections to Columbus and to a Licking County system, which makes Columbus a standby rather than the supply. A separate part of the area is served by Aqua Ohio, which runs a Blacklick water system on four wells and, under an Ohio EPA permit, its own Blacklick wastewater plant discharging to Blacklick Creek. Jefferson Township says the district was chartered under section 6119 of the Ohio Revised Code and created in 1987.

Does Groveport have its own water system?

Partly. The Groveport Water Department says it receives its drinking water from two underground wells, and the city says some addresses are on the Groveport system while others are on the Columbus water system, which it bills differently. The water department also keeps an emergency backup connection to the City of Columbus, which it reports it did not use in 2025. Sewage is not split at all: Groveport says all wastewater produced in the city is treated at the Southerly plant, which makes it one of only two towns here whose own page names the Columbus plant that takes it.

Which Central Ohio towns treat their own drinking water?

Several, from sources that have little in common. Westerville treats water from Alum Creek and its own wells. The City of Delaware says its primary source is the Olentangy River, blended with groundwater from wells drilled more than 200 feet deep. Newark says its raw water is withdrawn from the North Fork of the Licking River through mechanical screens rather than from wells. Pickerington says its water comes from five wells west of Diley Road in the Newark River aquifer, and Canal Winchester operates an ion-exchange treatment facility. Groveport draws on two wells. Sunbury and Galena no longer run water systems at all.

Who takes the sewage in Delaware County, Ohio?

It depends on whether the address sits in a municipality. Delaware County says its Regional Sewer District serves the unincorporated areas of the county, the townships, while municipal sewer systems serve the individual cities and villages, and the district says it provides only sewer service and directs water questions to Del-Co Water. The villages bear that out, because Sunbury and Galena each run a wastewater plant of their own. Powell is the case the rule does not describe: the City of Powell names the Delaware County Regional Sewer District as its sewer provider. Delaware treats its own at the Upper Olentangy Water Reclamation Center.

Is Grove City on Columbus water and sewer?

Columbus says so, and Grove City does not say. Columbus Water and Power lists Grove City among the communities it serves with water and sewer, and the city's water service area map places Grove City in the Parsons Avenue plant's area. The Grove City pages read for this page name no water or sewer provider and no treatment plant, and the federal drinking water inventory carries no separate Grove City public water system, which is consistent with those addresses sitting inside the Columbus system rather than buying from it. Marble Cliff is the same shape, in the Dublin Road plant's area.

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