The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has placed the City of Chillicothe in significant noncompliance over its wastewater pretreatment program, according to a Notice of Violation dated Oct. 14, 2026, and a Pretreatment Compliance Inspection report for the city’s Easterly wastewater treatment plant. The findings were reported this week based on Ohio EPA documents.
Pretreatment programs govern how industrial wastewater is handled before it enters a city’s treatment system. Chillicothe’s program is not new. Ohio EPA originally approved the city’s pretreatment program on March 29, 1985, and the city has operated under that framework while overseeing industrial users that discharge into the Easterly plant.
The inspection identified three significant industrial users in Chillicothe: Herr’s Foods, the Adena health system, and Kenworth. Those users are central to the pretreatment program because the volume and character of industrial discharges can affect how the municipal plant operates and whether it can meet its own permit requirements.
Ohio EPA directed the city to submit, for each violation cited, a plan describing how it will return to compliance. Within 30 days of receiving the letter, the city must also provide documentation of the actions it has taken, or will take, to address the violations. The response is intended to show the agency a specific path back into compliance, not just an acknowledgment of the notice.
The agency warned that failure to comply with Chapter 6111 of the Ohio Revised Code may result in an administrative or civil penalty under section 6111.09 of the Revised Code. Ohio EPA also noted that responding to the notice does not waive the agency’s authority to seek penalties. The letter therefore leaves open the possibility of enforcement while the city prepares its corrective plans.
The inspection report also included recommendations that Ohio EPA noted were not orders. They include ensuring industrial users follow required sampling frequencies, following the city’s Enforcement Response Plan when an industrial user is out of compliance, and having sufficient resources and qualified personnel to fully implement the pretreatment program.
The notice arrives while the Easterly plant is undergoing a complete upgrade of its treatment systems. The plant itself was previously in significant noncompliance for violations involving E. coli, pH and ammonia, separate from the pretreatment findings in the current inspection. How Chillicothe documents its next steps within the 30-day window will determine how Ohio EPA proceeds from here.