Columbiana County, Ohio: drinking water report. Columbiana County in eastern Ohio has about 102,000 residents near the Pennsylvania border.
Columbiana County in eastern Ohio has about 102,000 residents near the Pennsylvania border. East Liverpool, Salem, and Lisbon are the main communities. The county's pottery and ceramics industry – East Liverpool was once the pottery capital of the country – and steel manufacturing left contamination at multiple sites along the Ohio River corridor.
The WTI incinerator in East Liverpool, which burns hazardous waste, has been a community concern since it began operating in 1993. According to Ohio EPA's 2024 air and water monitoring data, the facility operates within its permitted emission limits, but community groups have documented concerns about cumulative exposure from the incinerator, legacy pottery-industry contamination, and Ohio River water quality.
The Ohio River at East Liverpool carries the industrial discharges of the Pittsburgh metro area and upstream steel towns. A 2024 ORSANCO assessment found that the river at this point shows trace levels of over 40 organic compounds. PFAS from the former Salem Airport has been detected at 8 ppt in local monitoring wells.
Columbiana County's industrial legacy and Ohio River location mean residents face contamination from both local sources and upstream discharges. If you are on a municipal system drawing from the Ohio River, the water is treated, but household filtration adds a meaningful buffer.
Check your water for current data. For the industrial contaminant mix typical of the upper Ohio Valley, reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap provides the broadest protection. Our water filter guide covers systems rated for industrial-area water. Pull your detailed report for trends, and visit our Ohio page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Columbiana County, OH.
The EPA places Columbiana County, OH in Zone 1 - the EPA's highest-risk category, where the predicted average indoor radon level is above 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
72% of homes in Columbiana County, OH were built before 1980, and 35% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Columbiana County, OH averages 8.3 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
15 public water systems serving Columbiana County, OH have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 3 water systems serving Columbiana County, OH carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule | 1 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 1 |
| Ground Water Rule | 1 |
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 1 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.