The City of Columbus provides water service to all Dublin residents and businesses on the public distribution system. The water supply is supported by both surface water and groundwater sources and is regularly tested to ensure quality and safety.
The most common water quality concerns are addressed on the City of Columbus website, however, if you have additional questions, please contact their Water Quality Assurance Lab (WQAL) at 614.645.7691 (8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Friday).
The City of Columbus performs regular testing to ensure quality and safety, which includes testing lead levels in Dublin every three years. The tests are performed in 50 different locations throughout the City to ensure a wide sample. You can learn more about lead in drinking water and view the Water for Living Consumer Confidence report online here.
The Columbus Department of Public Utilities has created an interactive map that allows the user to view publically owned lead service lines. The map allows the user to search by address or scroll to a street level view while providing links to information to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water.
City of Columbus, Division of Water
910 Dublin Road, Room 109, Columbus, Ohio 43215
Phone: 614.645.8270
Water main breaks & emergency service for evening
& weekends: 614-645-7788
Website: http://columbus.gov/NewService/
Water Safety
U.S. water operators are required to comply with all federal Safe Drinking Water Act rules and state regulations, including the Lead and Copper Rule.
The City of Columbus, which provides water service to Dublin, is in compliance with all state and federal drinking water regulations.
The Division of Water’s highly qualified professionals take their jobs of protecting public health by providing safe drinking water very seriously. When compliance issues arise, the city promptly notifies the media and customers.
THERE IS NO LEAD IN THE TREATED WATER THAT LEAVES THE THREE COLUMBUS WATER PLANTS, NOR IN THE SOURCE WATER THESE PLANTS USE. NONE OF THE WATER MAINS IN THE COLUMBUS SYSTEM ARE MADE OF LEAD; they are made of cast iron, ductile iron or concrete, and a few are plastic. However, because some water service lines, home plumbing, fixtures and solder may contain lead materials or parts, precautions are taken to prevent lead from leaching into the water customers rely on at the tap. Below are frequently asked questions and answers on lead in water.
Does the City soften our tap water?
The City of Columbus, which provides the water supply for Dublin, softens at the water plant to 100 to 130 milligrams per liter residual hardness. It is still classified a “moderately hard” water, but it is not corrosive like water treated further in a home water softener. Generally speaking, most people find the Columbus water acceptable without a home water softener.
In general, you don’t want water to be too hard, (which can leave white deposits on dishes and reduce the effectiveness of soap) or too soft, (which is corrosive to plumbing). The local water supply is in the middle.
What does the City of Columbus do to prevent lead from getting into tap water?
- Columbus has a very effective corrosion protection program. To prevent corrosive conditions that could cause leaching of lead, certified water operators add zinc orthophosphate to the treated water at a cost of $1,800 a day. This creates a coating inside the pipes to serve as barrier between the pipes and water. This protects public health and the city’s infrastructure by avoiding corrosive conditions that could lead to premature pipe failure.
- Testing is done to ensure this corrosion protection program continues to perform well. Various site samples are voluntarily tested monthly for lead. As required by Ohio EPA, 50 homes in the Columbus water distribution system are tested every three years for lead. Various suburban partners who contract with Columbus for water do their own independent lead testing.
- In addition to the corrosion prevention program, when city-owned lead water service lines are encountered, those lines are replaced. (Service lines are the smaller water lines coming off the city’s larger main water lines. From the main to the shut off valve near the curb or sidewalk, the service line is city responsibility, and from the valve to the home is homeowner responsibility, along with the plumbing inside the home.)
- The Division of Water helps fund a partnership program with Columbus Public Health, which includes lead poisoning prevention. For more information, visit: Columbus Public Health Healthy-Homes Program.
Where can I review the results of Columbus’ required lead in water testing?
The results are published in the annual Consumer Confidence Water Quality Report, which is mailed to customers each summer and is posted at: www.columbus.gov/ConsumerConfidence/. The results range from mostly below detection, less than 1 parts per billion (ppb), to 2.7 ppb, which is far below the EPA action level of 15 ppb.
- I live in an older home with older plumbing. How can I know if there may be lead at my tap?
- The only way for a customer to know with certainty if there may be lead at the tap is to have the water tested by a certified laboratory. State approved labs are published in our Lead in Drinking Water publication, available at www.columbus.gov/utilities/(and is mailed to customers every fall billing cycle).
- A list of laboratories certified in the State of Ohio to test for lead may be found at http://www.epa.ohio.gov/ddagw/labcert.aspx or by calling (614) 644-2752. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1(800) 426-4791 or at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead.
- All customers can protect themselves from lead or other contaminants by following this recommendation, regardless of the age of a home: whenever water in a building has not been used for 6 hours or more, run the tap for 30 seconds to two minutes, until the water is cold. This ensures one is pulling fresh water from the city’s mains, not what has been sitting in a building’s pipes.
For more information on lead at the tap, visit: DrinkTap.org
For questions on Columbus’ water quality, please call the Water Quality Assurance Lab at 614.645.7691.
- Download the presentation given at the Columbus City Council Hearing in February 2016
- Download the What You Need to Know About Lead in Drinking Water Brochure
The health and safety of area residents is the top priority for both the City of Dublin and City of Columbus. Columbus performs water quality testing within the distribution system on a regular basis. Columbus is required to perform lead testing in residential locations every three years. They have 50 homes in their service area that are tested, mostly in areas with older homes, such as Old Columbus. There are no locations in Dublin. Dublin’s public water system is relatively new and does not contain lead pipes. Some systems in individual homes may contain lead, but there are very few documented, according to City of Columbus records.
If you have questions about water quality in the City of Dublin that are not answered on this page, please contact Senior Public Information Officer Lindsay Weisenauer at lweisenauer@dublin.oh.us or by calling 614.410.4504.