COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes to the rules governing how the state’s public water systems monitor total coliform, but the agency’s proposal is narrower than the broad scope of the rule chapter might suggest.
The proposed amendments would affect Ohio Administrative Code rules governing total coliform monitoring, repeat sampling and related requirements. The rules apply to all public water systems in Ohio, meaning the changes could affect water utilities serving communities across the state.
For residents, however, the immediate impact appears limited.
Ohio EPA’s Division of Drinking and Ground Waters is proposing amendments to three rules — OAC 3745-81-50, 3745-81-51 and 3745-81-52 — while proposing no changes to rules governing treatment technique triggers and assessment requirements, violations, and reporting and recordkeeping.
The agency says the review is being conducted as part of Ohio’s required five-year review of administrative rules.
What is actually changing?
Under the proposal, Ohio EPA would make several changes to the existing rules.
Rule 3745-81-50, which covers general monitoring requirements, would be amended to add federal language explaining when routine or repeat total coliform samples can be considered invalid. The rule would also receive updated references and links.
Rule 3745-81-51, which covers routine monitoring, would receive several changes. One is simply a correction to the word “depresurized,” changing it to the correct spelling, “depressurized.”
More substantively, the agency proposes removing provisions that allow monitoring to be postponed under paragraphs (B)(7) and (B)(8). Ohio EPA says that change is being made to bring the state rule into alignment with the federal rule.
The agency also proposes other minor language changes intended to match federal requirements.
Rule 3745-81-52, covering repeat monitoring and E. coli requirements, would receive a typographical correction changing “paragaph” to “paragraph.”
The remaining three rules — 3745-81-53, 3745-81-54 and 3745-81-55 — are being proposed with “No Change.”
Those rules cover total coliform treatment technique triggers and assessment requirements, violations, and reporting and recordkeeping.
What does that mean for residents?
The most important point for water customers is that Ohio EPA is not proposing a wholesale rewrite of the state’s total coliform rules.
The agency’s own summary describes the proposed amendments largely as corrections, updates, clarifications and changes intended to bring portions of Ohio’s rules into conformity with federal requirements.
The proposal does not identify a new drinking-water contaminant standard for residents, nor does it propose changes to the rules governing violations or reporting and recordkeeping.
There could nevertheless be an operational impact for public water systems.
The proposed removal of monitoring postponements means some systems that currently rely on those provisions could face different requirements regarding when monitoring must occur. Exactly how individual water systems would be affected would depend on their circumstances and the requirements applicable to them.
For residents, that makes the rulemaking worth watching even though much of the proposed language is technical.
The rules govern the monitoring of total coliform, and the proposal also involves requirements concerning repeat monitoring and E. coli. Those monitoring requirements are part of the regulatory framework Ohio uses to oversee public drinking-water systems.
No immediate change to the rules
The proposal is not yet final.
Ohio EPA is currently in the “Interested Party Review” phase of the rulemaking process. During this stage, the agency is asking potentially affected parties — including members of the public, local officials, public water system permit holders, industry representatives, other state agencies, consultants and environmental organizations — to review the draft rules and provide comments.
The agency must consider those comments before moving forward.
After the current comment period closes, Ohio EPA says it will review the submissions and make any necessary revisions. The agency then expects to file proposed rules with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, the Legislative Service Commission and the Secretary of State.
Another public comment period, including one or more public hearings, will then be scheduled before the rules can ultimately be adopted.
In other words, the rules currently in effect have not been replaced by these drafts.
Residents can weigh in
Ohio EPA is accepting written comments on the proposed amendments and the accompanying Common Sense Initiative Business Impact Analysis.
Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Sept. 11, 2026.
Comments can be submitted electronically through the agency’s SmartComment system or by mail to:
Rule Coordinator
Ohio EPA — Division of Drinking and Ground Water
P.O. Box 1049
Columbus, OH 43216-1049
The agency lists Rylee Lane as the contact for the rulemaking at Rylee.Lane@epa.ohio.gov or 614-752-9725.
The bottom line
For Ohio residents, the proposed changes are primarily about how public water systems carry out and document total coliform monitoring, rather than an announced overhaul of drinking-water protections.
Three rules would be amended, while three others — including those dealing with violations and reporting — would remain unchanged under the current proposal.
But one proposed change stands out: the removal of monitoring postponement provisions in the routine monitoring rule. That could change how some public water systems handle their required monitoring.
Whether that change creates additional costs, administrative burdens or operational changes for individual water systems is part of what Ohio EPA is now asking interested parties to address during the review process.
For customers who want to know how the proposal could affect their particular water system, the most relevant question may not be whether the statewide rule is changing, but whether their local public water system currently relies on any of the monitoring provisions Ohio EPA is proposing to eliminate.
That answer is not provided in the agency’s statewide notice and would have to be determined on a system-by-system basis.
The current deadline for public comment is 5 p.m. Sept. 11, 2026.
