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County water report

Holmes County Water Report

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

Water grade

F

Water score

30.8

State rank

#78

of 88

Health violations

7

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

8 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

5

783 recent measurements

Live streamflow

150%

Killbuck Creek at Killbuck OH

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Holmes County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

F

Score: 30.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

7

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

8 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

150% of mean

Killbuck Creek at Killbuck OH

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

5

783 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

F

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

30.8/100

Health violations

7

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

62.4

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Holmes County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Holmes County's water systems carry a failing grade, scoring 30.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 7 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 8 water bodies) across Holmes 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 2026-05-14T15:00:00.000-04:00) puts Killbuck Creek at 683.0 cfs — running significantly above its long-term average at 150% of mean flow. 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. Holmes County has limited coverage with 5 active monitoring sites with 783 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include organics, pesticide and organics, other. 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 Holmes County

Water Verdict

Holmes County, Ohio receives a poor water quality assessment with a grade of F and a score of 30.8 out of 100. The water supply has documented quality issues. Residents are strongly encouraged to use filtered or bottled water for drinking and to stay informed about utility improvement plans. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments track 8 water bodies in the county's watershed, none of which are currently listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was running above its historical mean at 150.4%.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Holmes County, Ohio show 7 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 62.4 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. Independent monitoring is comparatively sparse here — 783 water-quality results logged in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years — so the utility's own reporting carries extra weight.

Consumer Guidance

Drinking-water compliance in Holmes County is rated Grade F, reflecting significant health-based violations in the recent reporting period. Holmes County's drinking-water compliance score is 30.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Holmes County is 62.4 per 100,000 people served. An NSF 53 or NSF 58-certified filter is recommended for drinking and cooking water. Check the Consumer Confidence Report from your utility to identify the specific contaminants and required corrective actions — utilities are legally required to notify customers of violations. There are 5 active water-quality monitoring sites in Holmes County. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Killbuck Creek gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Holmes County has poorer water quality than the average county in Ohio. Its water score is 25.4 points lower than the state average, suggesting more challenges with contamination control or infrastructure than 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 Holmes County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Holmes County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Holmes County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Holmes 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 8 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

5

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

783

783 total readings

Most Measured

  • Organics, Pesticide
  • Organics, Other
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals

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

683cfs

May 14, 7:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

150%

Well above typical

Primary Streamgage

Killbuck Creek at Killbuck OH

USGS site
03139000
Drainage area
464 sq mi
Long-term mean
454 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

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Water Cost Estimate

3

3 people  ·  ~225 gal/day

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Holmes 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 Holmes County, Ohio?
Holmes County, Ohio has a drinking-water quality grade of F with a score of 30.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 7 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 Holmes County?
Holmes County has 7 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 Holmes County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Holmes County's 8 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 Holmes County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 783 measurements from 5 monitoring sites in Holmes County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Organics, Pesticide, Organics, Other, Inorganics, Minor, Metals. 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 Holmes County right now?
Holmes County's primary USGS streamgage on the Killbuck Creek has a pipeline snapshot of 683 cubic feet per second — 150% of the long-term mean of 454.02 cfs. This is well above typical — often a signal of recent precipitation or storm runoff. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Holmes County water compare to the Ohio average?
Holmes County's SDWIS water quality score of 30.8/100 is lower 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 Holmes County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Holmes County has a water quality grade of F (30.8/100). This indicates below-average compliance with significant violations. Residents may want to consider home water filtration or independent testing. 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 Holmes County have so many water violations?
Holmes County has 7 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 Holmes County rank for water quality in Ohio?
Holmes County ranks #78 out of 88 counties in Ohio by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 30.8/100, it falls in the bottom 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

Crawford County

Ohio

F

31.9

Water score

Muskingum County

Ohio

F

29.3

Water score

Monroe County

Ohio

F

32.5

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 Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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