Tap water · OH
Columbus Division of Water
EPA system ID OH2504412 · serves about 1,305,946 people. Every US utility must publish an annual water quality report — here’s the official one (2025), and below it, our plain-English translation.
Read the official report →What Columbus Division of Water found in 2025
53 detected analytes from the utility’s own annual report, hand-normalized — 2 were near or over a limit (flagged below).
| Detected | Level | Limit | % of limit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sulfate (highest of multiple sources) | 207.8 ppm | 250 ppm | 83% | Near limit |
| Total Trihalomethanes (highest of multiple sources) | 64.1 ppb | 80 ppb | 80% | Near limit |
| Nitrate (highest of multiple sources) | 6.3 ppm | 10 ppm | 63% | Within limit |
| Total Dissolved Solids (SMCL) | 313 ppm | 500 ppm | 63% | Within limit |
| Total Haloacetic Acids (highest of multiple sources) | 37 ppb | 60 ppb | 62% | Within limit |
| Sulfate (SMCL) | 130.5 ppm | 250 ppm | 52% | Within limit |
| Total Trihalomethanes (columbus water average) | 0.038 ppm | 0.08 ppm | 48% | Within limit |
| Total Chlorine (highest of multiple sources) | 1.44 ppm | 4 ppm | 36% | Within limit |
| Haloacetic Acids 5 | 0.019 ppm | 0.06 ppm | 32% | Within limit |
| Chloride (highest of multiple sources) | 62 ppm | 250 ppm | 25% | Within limit |
| Fluoride (highest of multiple sources) | 0.98 ppm | 4 ppm | 25% | Within limit |
| Chloride (SMCL) | 52 ppm | 250 ppm | 21% | Within limit |
| Bromate | 2 ppb | 10 ppb | 20% | Within limit |
| Cadmium (highest of multiple sources) | 0.001 ppm | 0.005 ppm | 20% | Within limit |
| Bromate (columbus water average) | 0.001 ppm | 0.01 ppm | 10% | Within limit |
| Lead (90th percentile) | 1.3 ppb | 15 ppb | 9% | Within limit |
| Lead (90th percentile) (90th percentile columbus) | 1.3 ppm | 15 ppm | 9% | Within limit |
| Atrazine (highest of multiple sources) | 0.2 ppb | 3 ppb | 7% | Within limit |
| Zinc (SMCL) | 0.256 ppm | 5 ppm | 5% | Within limit |
| Copper (90th percentile) (highest of multiple sources) | 0.049 ppm | 1.3 ppm | 4% | Within limit |
| Atrazine (columbus water average) | 0 ppm | 0.003 ppm | 4% | Within limit |
| Barium (highest of multiple sources) | 0.02 ppm | 2 ppm | 1% | Within limit |
| Simazine | 0.01 | 4 | 0% | Within limit |
| Simazine (columbus water average) | 0 ppm | 0.004 ppm | 0% | Within limit |
| Conductivity (uS/cm) (highest of multiple sources) | 670 uS/cm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Conductivity | 512 | — | — | No federal limit |
| Hardness (highest of multiple sources) | 125 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Sodium (highest of multiple sources) | 86.7 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Total Alkalinity (highest of multiple sources) | 63 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Alkalinity | 48 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Calcium | 34 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Trichloromethane (Chloroform) (highest of multiple sources) | 16.6 ppb | — | — | No federal limit |
| Dibromochloromethane (highest of multiple sources) | 8.7 ppb | — | — | No federal limit |
| Bromodichloromethane (highest of multiple sources) | 8.5 ppb | — | — | No federal limit |
| Magnesium | 8 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| pH (highest of multiple sources) | 7.9 units | — | — | No federal limit |
| pH (columbus water average) | 7.8 | — | — | No federal limit |
| Hardness (gpg) (highest of multiple sources) | 7.3 gpg | — | — | No federal limit |
| Tribromomethane (Bromoform) (highest of multiple sources) | 6.4 ppb | — | — | No federal limit |
| Potassium (highest of multiple sources) | 4.8 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Total Organic Carbon (highest of multiple sources) | 2.56 | — | — | No federal limit |
| Total Organic Carbon (columbus water average) | 1.74 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Turbidity (highest) (highest of multiple sources) | 0.68 NTU | — | — | No federal limit |
| Phosphorus, Ortho | 0.44 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Metolachlor | 0.06 ppb | — | — | No federal limit |
| Bromide | 0.055 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Aluminum (Secondary MCL) | 0.016 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Trichloromethane (Chloroform) (columbus water average) | 0.009 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Bromodichloromethane (columbus water average) | 0.007 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Dibromochloromethane (columbus water average) | 0.006 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Tribromomethane (Bromoform) (columbus water average) | 0.003 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Metolaclor | 0 ppm | — | — | No federal limit |
| Total Coliforms | 0 % | — | — | No federal limit |
Levels and limits are as printed in the utility’s report (“limit” is the EPA MCL, action level, residual limit, or secondary guideline that applies to that row; “ND” = not detected). Utilities publish these reports annually — we re-check every covered utility each July, after the federal publication deadline. Detected doesn’t mean dangerous — most detections sit far below their limits. This is education, not medical advice.
Your tap, if it were a bottle
How Columbus Division of Water water stacks up against the bottled aisle
Same minerals, same units — the tap values below come from the utility’s report, placed next to the closest match in our bottled-water database.
| Mineral | Your tap | Closest bottled match |
|---|---|---|
| Total dissolved solids | 313 mg/L | Voss at 290 mg/L |
| Calcium | 34 mg/L | Crazy Water at 34 mg/L |
| Magnesium | 8 mg/L | Volvic at 8 mg/L |
| Sodium | 86.7 mg/L | Mattoni at 69.9 mg/L |
| Sulfate | 207.8 mg/L | Vöslauer at 228 mg/L |
| Chloride | 62 mg/L | Topo Chico at 63 mg/L |
| Potassium | 4.8 mg/L | Villavicencio at 4.8 mg/L |
Tap values are the headline levels from the utility’s annual report (often a highest or average figure); bottled values are label- or report-derived. A closest match is a numeric comparison, not an equivalence or an endorsement.
Zip codes covered
43201 · 43202 · 43203 · 43204 · 43205 · 43206 · 43207 · 43210 · 43211 · 43212 · 43213 · 43214 · 43215 · 43219 · 43220 · 43221 · 43222 · 43223 · 43224 · 43227 · 43228 · 43229 · 43231 · 43232 · 43235 · 43240
Boundary zips partially served by other systems are deliberately unlisted — check your exact zip.