County water report

Franklin County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Franklin County, Ohio.

Water grade

Water score

68.8

State rank

#21

of 88

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

5 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

18,243 recent measurements

Live streamflow

41%

Scioto River at Columbus OH

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Franklin County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 68.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

5 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

41% of mean

Scioto River at Columbus OH

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

18,243 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

68.8/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

1.5

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Franklin County has 42 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #30 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

80.4

0-100 index

Facility count

97.9 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+18.8

Compared with US county median

Named operators

AWSGoogle

Mapped facilities

Amazon AWS: Hilliard Data Center
Amazon Web Services us-east-2 datacenter
OSM
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services
OSM
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services
OSM
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services
OSM
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services
OSM
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services
OSM

36 more mapped facilities included in the county score.

See the Franklin County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

Estimate daily water use for a hypothetical facility in Franklin County.

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 27.1% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

27.1% of county industrial baseline2.15 Mgal/day remaining headroom

Based on USGS 2020 water-use data and EPA-standard cooling intensity constants. Not a substitute for site-specific water rights analysis.

Editorial analysis

Understanding Franklin County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Franklin County earns a B grade for drinking water quality, scoring 68.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 22 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

Watershed Conditions

EPA ATTAINS

Under the Clean Water Act §303(d), EPA ATTAINS tracks whether waterways meet quality standards for drinking, recreation, and aquatic life (reporting cycle: 2022). None of the assessed waterways are listed as impaired (0 of 5 water bodies) across Franklin County's watersheds. Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T14:45:00.000-04:00) puts Scioto River at 638.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 41% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Franklin County has extensive coverage with 79 active monitoring sites with 18,243 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and nutrient. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Franklin County

Water Verdict

Franklin County receives a fair water quality assessment with a grade of B and a score of 68.8 out of 100. The water supply meets baseline federal standards, but there may be periods of elevated contaminant levels or infrastructure concerns worth monitoring.

Violation Context

Franklin County has recorded 22 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 1.5 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is relatively low compared to many U.S. counties.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Franklin County meets baseline safety standards, though the compliance record shows some violations worth watching. Franklin County's drinking-water compliance score is 68.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Franklin County is 1.5 per 100,000 people served. Running tap water for 30 seconds before drinking can reduce any localized lead exposure from household plumbing. Requesting your utility's most recent Consumer Confidence Report is the fastest way to identify which specific contaminants were flagged. With 79 active water-quality monitoring sites in Franklin County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Scioto River gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Franklin County has better water quality than the average county in Ohio. Its water score is 12.6 points higher than the state average, indicating stronger water system performance relative to neighboring counties.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Franklin County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Franklin County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Franklin County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Franklin County

Consumer Confidence Reports (OH)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Ohio

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

0.0%

0 of 5 assessed

Mostly healthy

Top Impairment Causes

No specific impairment causes reported for the assessed water bodies in this county.

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Impairment is determined under the Clean Water Act §303(d): a water body is impaired when it fails to meet state-defined quality standards for designated uses (drinking, recreation, aquatic life). Assessment coverage varies by state; counties without assessed water bodies are not shown.

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

18K

18,243 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Nutrient
Organics, Pesticide

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

638cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

41%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

Scioto River at Columbus OH

USGS site: 03227500
Drainage area: 1,629 sq mi
Long-term mean: 1,560 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

Free tool

Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

Household size

3 people · ~225 gal/day

Filter type

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Franklin County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Franklin County, Ohio?

Franklin County, Ohio has a drinking-water quality grade of B with a score of 68.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 22 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.

Are there any water violations in Franklin County?

Franklin County has 22 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.

How healthy are the watersheds in Franklin County?

EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Franklin County's 5 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (0 impaired). Impairment means the water body fails to meet state quality standards for at least one designated use — drinking water source, recreation, aquatic life, or fish consumption. Note: watershed impairment doesn't always translate to tap-water issues; treatment plants can remove most regulated contaminants.

How much water-quality monitoring happens in Franklin County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 18,243 measurements from 79 monitoring sites in Franklin County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Organics, Pesticide. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.

What's happening with rivers in Franklin County right now?

Franklin County's primary USGS streamgage on the Scioto River has a pipeline snapshot of 638 cubic feet per second — 41% of the long-term mean of 1,559.97 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.

How does Franklin County water compare to the Ohio average?

Franklin County's SDWIS water quality score of 68.8/100 is higher than the Ohio state average of 56.2. The average water quality grade across Ohio is D, based on data from 88 counties with available SDWIS data.

Is tap water safe to drink in Franklin County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Franklin County has a water quality grade of B (68.8/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).

Why does Franklin County have so many water violations?

Franklin County has 22 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.

How does Franklin County rank for water quality in Ohio?

Franklin County ranks #21 out of 88 counties in Ohio by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 68.8/100, it falls in the top third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Summit County

Ohio

68.6

Water score

Medina County

Ohio

68.2

Water score

Clermont County

Ohio

69.7

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Watershed health and impaired-waterway data from the EPA ATTAINS Clean Water Act §303(d) assessments, state-reported and EPA-finalized.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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