Water Quality in Cincy (Cincinnati, Hamilton: houses, water heater, neighborhood)

[Windwalker]

I'm looking to move to Cincy, found a few great houses in Milford only to discover that Milford's municipal water supply is on the EPA's superfund clean-up list.

How safe is the water quality in Cincinnati over all?

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

I'm looking to move to Cincy, found a few great houses in Milford only to discover that Milford's municipal water supply is on the EPA's superfund clean-up list.

How safe is the water quality in Cincinnati over all?

A large percentage of the Cincy metro area obtains their water from the Cincinnati Water Works. I live in Warren Co. the next county north of Hamilton where Cincinnati is located. When I first moved here we had our own water system derived from artesian wells down into a limestone aqualifier. Besides being hard as a rock, as the town grew the supply was dwindling. So we switched to a contract with Cincinnati Water Works. The quality of the water improved considerably, I no longer have to replace water heaters on a regular basis due to limestone deposits.

I can attest that Cincinnati Water Works delivers a good quality of water. I am surprised that Milford has not given up their own system and contracted with them. Knowing that Milford is on the Little Miami River, I bet they draw the water from wells along the river. Another adjacent source is Indian Hill Water works which supplies Indian Hill and Madeira. Their wells are also along the Little Miami.

I believe if you look up Cincinnati Water Works you will find they have good grades as to the quality of the water. You are right to be concerned about the water supply.

[Scott SW Ohio]

I can second kjbrill's comment about Cincinnati's water quality. When Lebanon switched from their wells to Cincinnati water the improvement was instantly apparent - softer feel, better taste and no smell. I have lived in many places (including southern Michigan - ugh) and based on my experience Cincinnati's is the Champagne of tap water.

But you don't want to think too much about where it comes from.

[spinney]

Cincinnati has a great reputation for tap water, at least within city limits. I remember Stephen Colbert had a bit a couple years ago about starting a fake brand of bottled water called "Aqua Colbert" that was made from "the finest Cincinnati tap water"

Don't know how true this is for Milford however.

[Ohiogirl81]

Milford's water comes from a series of wells along the river, and the city softens it before it's pumped to the homes (Lebanon never did that! My water used to clunk as it came out of the faucet ... ).

Here's a link to the latest water quality report:

http://www.milfordohio.org/wp-conten...ort_8.5x11.pdf

Cincinnati's water is yummy. I love it every year at Taste of Cincinnati when the water works sets up a booth with free water. (If anyone is going this year, have some snails from La Petite France for me!)

[Windwalker]

Thanks for the link to the water quality report, Ohiogirl! I get these things in Louisville where the water also tastes great.

But have you ever actually looked at one of these reports? Does anyone else find it fishy that the highest possible within-compliance-range number is reported on quite a few of the contaminants? And then read the fine print in the footnotes.

Geez. No wonder cancer is so prevalent in our society.

[kjbrill]

Just softening water usually does nothing relative to taste or palatability. Its main purpose is to counteract a high mineral content and the effectiveness of soaps, detergents, and the feel of the water on skin when bathing. Home water softeners typically remove nothing from the water, just change the ionization of the molecules.

The water report link which was posted is for the Milford Water Works. I would urge interested parties to compare it to the equivalent Cincinnati Water Works report. I am sure Milford maintains what is considered safe drinking water. That does not mean it either tastes or smells great.

Years ago, when I moved from Madeira to Mason the water bill was our first shock. Madeira is supplied by Indian Hill Water Works, which also has its wells along the Little Miami River near Milford. What we had been paying quarterly for water in Madeira was exceeded monthly in Mason. Mason had its own water and also waste water treatment plants. The tap water came from wells sunk into the Great Miami River Aquifer which starts up north at Indian Lake and flows 170 miles south to the Ohio River. The aquifer itself is of course underground and the Great Miami River basically follows the same path on the surface. Many cities depend on it for their water supply.

In addition to being expensive the Mason water was very hard, causing all sorts of problems from the dissolved minerals in such as water heaters, dishwashers, toilets, and just ordinary faucets. At first we had a home water softener based on the rock salt principle. You probably notice the rock salt bags at stores in areas where hard water is prevalent. It consumed volumes of salt driving the cost up even more. The wife complained she did not like the feel of the water when bathing, said in her words it felt slimy. So we decided the softener was only causing us money and I disconnected and discarded it.

The water heater was a constant problem. For many years we got less than 4 years out of a heater. The linestone deposits precipitated out of the water as it heated an collected in the tank. Before long the water tank was a solid rock. We have a natural gas water heater. The first cycle around the wife was screaming because the heater sprung a leak on a Friday and she had wash for young children to do. After checking around I found out Sears would replace the heater on the weekend at a not too outrageous cost. The service man who came out to install it told me I know this area and I overrode your order. I am putting in our medium grade 8-yr warranty heater. Believe me it will not last 8 years here in Mason, but you will still get some prorate on the cost of a replacement. But the warranty is just on the cost of the heater. He said in a couple weeks Sears will send you an extended service warranty - take it. It will cover all of the labor for removal and replacement of a heater, and in addition covers conditions like weekend replacement. He said I am an independent contractor to Sears and believe me they are losing their ass on this deal. One of the best pieces of advice I ever had a service person give me. Of course it was in his interest as Sears was contracting him to do the replacement work.

I noted another poster from Lebanon, same water source I am sure, said their water clunked as it came out of the tap. The taste and smell were not bad, as the sulphur content was not high. This is the rotten egg smell and what you sometimes get from a shallow depth well.

So for years we had a regular replacement of water heaters by Sears. They would attempt to drain the heater and nothing would come out, that is now dense the mineral deposits were. After disconnecting the heater they would place it over my basement floor drain and chop through the exterior skin with an axe. Still not a lot of water came out. Then I would watch sometimes 3 men trying to use a 2-wheel dolly and take the heater up my basement steps, a large hunk of rock.

After a number of years Mason exploded in residential development, along with West Chester and a number of surrounding areas. They began to get concerned about the viability of the Great Miami Aquifer over a period of time. Mason, and I can probably guess others like Lebanon, began to be concerned about their water supply. Wells have a common characteristic, they draw water from their structure. If the water begins to clog up from mineral deposits, etc. the yield of the well diminishes. Then you have to drill new wells. Mason had a study which said they would need new wells and deeper. This of course equates to cost.

So Mason entered into negotiations with Cincinnati Water Works to become our supplier. This became a reality and the water quality improved dramatically. Mason still has their own wastewater treatment plant, but frankly I am not sure who is in charge of running what.

I assume Mason still operates the wastewater treatment plant. I only say that because I have not seen any mention of Metropolitan Sewer District.

I know our bill is from Cincinnati Water Works. I believe it not only covers the customer water supply, but the sewer treatment plan. I believe ours also covers the trash collection fees, ours are Rumpke.

I believe our total bill is in the neighborhood of $68.00, and the trash collection portion is in the area of $15.00.

So do you believe a cost of $53.00 per month for water and sewage is a resonable cost for a single family dwelling.