What are the long-term benefits of keeping our independent water system?

Indian Hill Water Works Benefits

1. The Little Miami aquifer is the source of IHWW’s water. Underground aquifers are often preferred over surface water sources because they tend to be less susceptible to contamination and take longer to become contaminated due to natural filtration as groundwater moves through layers of rock and sediment. Water drawn from wells generally requires less treatment processes to make it safe for drinking water.
2. Increased resiliency by maintaining a reliable source of water and contracting with GCWW for an emergency back-up supply, such as was used for supplementation during the drought of 2024.
3. Controlling overall water rates within the Village now and into the future.
4. Money from payment of your water bill goes directly right back into the community being served.
5. Maintaining the current high level of 24/7/365 service provided to customers by IHWW.
6. Both IHWW and GCWW must meet OEPA drinking water standards.  Water quality is additionally controlled by Indian Hill through a much shorter distribution system, reducing the age of treated water reaching customers.
7. Per residential sentiment, other Indian Hill departments preferred in-house versus outsourcing– e.g., waste collections/recycling, dispatch, park maintenance, etc.

GCWW Benefits

1. No need for Village to fund its own PFAS removal facility as the purchased water would be treated already.
2. Indian Hill customer base becomes a part of a much bigger system to spread future costs out among more users.
3. The Ohio River is an abundant source of water.

GCWW Costs

1. GCWW’s water source is the Ohio River. Surface water is generally more susceptible to contamination from exposure in the environment, runoff, air fallout, and other sources, leading to higher concentrations of contaminants. It generally requires more treatment to make it safe for drinking, which was why GCWW installed a granular activated carbon (GAC) facility in the 1990’s.
2. Reliability of water is reduced as the water supply from GCWW is not guaranteed to wholesale and retail customers. If a water shortage emergency were to occur, City of Cincinnati residents and businesses will receive water as the first priority. In addition to the annexation for water service requirement that GCWW imposed in the 1940’s, it was also water outages experienced by a past GCWW labor strike and contamination from wide-spread flooding in 1937 that caused IHWW to be established.
3. Other possible scenarios which could lead to water outages may include severe droughts, train derailments or other sources of long-lasting chemical spills introduced upstream in the Ohio River.
4. If GCWW provides water in lieu of IHWW providing a PFAS removal facility, both the IHWW wellfield and water treatment plant which has been invested in and upgraded many times over the years will need to be abandoned and demolished.
5. GCWW is anticipated to have future rate increases for not only general inflation and infrastructure replacements, but also for $125 Million in PFAS removal upgrades at the Bolton treatment plant and $200 Million in lead water service line replacement costs. GCWW’s rate increase is set at 5.55% for Hamilton County incorporated areas in 2026.  GCWW rates are out of the Village’s control. If a transition to GCWW for water supply was chosen in lieu of IHWW, the community would not be paying to install PFAS removal assets for IHWW, but would be financially contributing to GCWW’s PFAS removal facility and other infrastructure needs.