- Our office is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Drop off your payment at our drop box located at our main office 12560 Middleton Pike, Bowling Green.
- By mail with check/money order and payment stub to Northwestern Water and Sewer District, PO Box 348, Bowling Green, OH 43402
- By phone toll-free at (877)-354-9090, option 8 for our automated phone payment system, or option 2 to speak to one of our customer service representatives
- Online through our E-billing page
- By automatic withdrawal from your checking/savings account or credit/debit card
- Bank bill pay through your bank
- We accept cash, checks, electronic checks, money orders, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express
Yes, you can register to receive e-bills through your online account. If you don’t already have an online account you can visit our billing website and click on the box that says “pay your bill online.” You will need your account number and zip code to set up an account.
Our Aquahawk program lets you view your water consumption, receive email or text leak alerts, and customize alert settings.
Your monthly bill shows also your meter readings and usage for the billing period.
There are 7.48 gallons of water in 1 cubic foot.
We monitor leaks through our Aquahawk system, which is also available to customers. This system generates a leak report when usage patterns appear to be abnormal for a particular customer. Leak alerts are a courtesy, but not all leaks are caught or show up in our alert system. We encourage customers to register with the Aquahawk system themselves so they can set their own alert levels and receive notifications directly. If a leak happens outside of our normal business hours or does not show up on our leak report, you may not get a notification or may not get one as quickly as desired.
Normally your meter is located in a meter pit outside your home close to where the main water line runs. This could be close to an alley, in your driveway, or in your front or back yard. Some meters are also located inside a customer’s home. These are usually found in a garage, basement, or closet in the home.
Nearly all homes can get by with a 5/8 inch meter. If you have irrigation, depending on the system, a larger meter is advised.
We get asked by builders, architects, and customers to size the meter. We offer guidance as best we can, but the decision lies with the customer. You should contact a certified licensed plumber.
Customers may call to request a decrease in water meter size, provided that the customer and his/her plumbing contractor determine that a smaller meter will meet the building or facility water usage needs. All plumbing changes and upgrades related to the new meter size must adhere to our water service rules.
You and your plumber may also want to view the AWWA Water Meter Equivalences to help you determine what meter size may be appropriate for your home or business. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to determine what meter size is appropriate for your home or business.
Your meter is read remotely through a wireless device called a Stealth. This device is installed to pull the reads from your meter and electronically transmit them to us.
Even if you have no usage, as long as your service is on and you have access to water or sewer, you will incur minimum fixed charges. Those minimum charges vary, depending on where you live. If you’d like to know the minimum charge for your address, feel free to call our customer service department — (419) 354 9090, option 2.
If you call our office 24-48 hours before you leave, we can schedule a work order to turn off your service. There’s no charge for this (unless your service is turned off less than 30 days) and you’ll avoid the minimum monthly charges for your service. There is a $56 labor charge if the time your service is shut off is less than 30 days.
It’s a billing method that takes the water consumption used in the winter quarter as the basis for billing sewer charges throughout the year. This means you won’t be paying additional sewer charges for warm weather purposes such as watering lawns, washing cars, landscaping, gardening, or filling pools. Eligible customers are automatically put on winter averaging if they have an entire month’s usage in February, March, and April in the current year. Find out more about winter averaging.
You will be assessed a penalty charge of 10% of your bill amount or $5, whichever is greater.
If you can’t pay your bill by the shut-off date, please call us immediately and talk to a customer service representative. We can put you in a payment agreement which will allow you a few more days to pay your bill. The District has partnered with our local Salvation Army to provide assistance with our Pay it Forward Program. If you are in need, please contact them at (419) 352-5918 to see if you qualify. We also maintain a list of agencies that may be able to provide help by pledging for you.
If your water service is shut off, you will be required to pay your past due charges plus the $56 administrative charge to have service restored. If payment is received by 3 p.m., service will be reconnected the same day, otherwise, it will be reconnected the next business day.
If a water/sewer bill is not paid, a penalty charge will be applied to the account and a penalty bill will be sent to you informing you of the date the past-due bill must be paid to avoid shut off. If payment is not made by that date then the water will be shut off and left off until payment is made. In the case of accounts that are billed only for sewer/debt charges or any other account with a delinquent balance, those will be certified to the Wood County Auditor and placed on the real estate taxes as a lien against the property.
Each year, in July, we transfer unpaid account balances from the previous year (July 1st through June 30th) to the County Auditor. Once they’ve been transferred to the Auditor, the balances will show up on the property taxes for that address in the following year. These balances remain with the address, they do not follow with the customer.
Information to assist both landlords and tenants.
In some of our service areas, water/sewer accounts must remain in the name of the property owner. These areas are the accounts that were previously billed by Toledo. When we add a new area, we keep the same rules and procedures that the account was under previously for continuity purposes. We can still send the bill in care of (C/O) the tenant at the request of the owner, but the account must remain with the property’s owner per the County Auditor. Any account changes or updates must be requested by the property owner.
Your bill may consist of several different charges depending on your location. For example, you may receive an operation and maintenance charge shown on your bill as ‘District Water’ or ‘District Sewer’. These funds are used to operate and maintain the Northwestern Water & Sewer District infrastructure that serves your home. You may also receive a separate treatment charge on your bill from another provider such as the Cities of Toledo, Perrysburg, Oregon, etc. These funds are charged by that city for the treatment of your water or wastewater and may be shown on your bill as ‘Toledo Water’ or ‘Oregon Sewer’, for example.
While nearly all aspects of the cost of living continue to rise, we pride ourselves on avoiding dramatic price adjustments. When they do occur, it is to maintain the quality, reliability, and stability of the services we provide, per our company mission. The following are reasons why rates may increase:
- Expenses are rising
- Consumption and revenue remain flat
- Facility repair and replacement
- Wholesale water/sewer increases
- Wholesale water/sewer supplier upgrades
- Safety/health regulations
A ten-member Board of Trustees oversees the District. The board of trustees holds regular meetings prior to adopting any rates. Board meetings are generally held every two weeks, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. These meetings are open to the public. View our Board Agendas and Minutes page for the current schedule.
Board and committee meetings are open to the public. The board of trustees accepts public comment at all regularly scheduled meetings. Board meetings are generally held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Visit our Board Agendas and Minutes page for the latest schedule.
The District works hard every day to provide the high-quality water and wastewater services at the lowest cost good service will allow. Even with our most recent rate adjustment, our rates are average for water and wastewater utilities in northwest Ohio. For more information, please visit the rate comparison website provided by the Ohio EPA.
The District purchases water treatment services from a variety of local municipal providers. To find out who provides the water and wastewater treatment services in your area please visit our interactive map.
The map provides information on the treatment provider (Toledo, Oregon, etc.), where the water comes from (Lake Erie, the Maumee River, etc.), and a short description of the treatment facilities and treatment process.
For 2023, the board approved a 3.74% rate increase for water and a 3.04% increase for sewer, resulting in a $3.02 per month total increase for customers using an average of 1,000 cubic feet of usage.
View our 2023 Rate Fact Sheet (PDF) explaining changes in your District and treatment provider rates.
At The District, we plan for the long term, making investments in our water and wastewater system responsibly and gradually. Every year we develop a budget based on the planned capital and operating needs we have for that year. All our costs, from capital infrastructure projects to daily operations to emergency work, are paid for solely by rates and fees, not taxes. The District Board of Directors typically votes on rate adjustments in December of every year to be implemented on customer bills after the beginning of the following year.
Our staff works hard every day to maintain and operate more than 800 miles of collection and distribution lines and 3,800 fire hydrants in the water and sewer system. On a given day we could be working on anything from planned maintenance like replacing aging valves, pumps, and pipelines in the distribution system to emergency service repairs like main breaks.
The District rates you pay on your water and wastewater bill pay for the water you use in your home or business, plus a combination of administrative costs (billing, meter reading, etc.); operations and maintenance costs; and upgrades and replacements to The District system. The bills also include charges to cover the costs from the municipal provider that treats drinking water and wastewater in your area.
We do not make a profit and receive no revenue from tax dollars. We continually reinvest the money we get from your water bill to maintain and upgrade the pipes, pump stations, and other infrastructure that allow us to deliver safe, reliable water, remove wastewater and provide essential fire protection services.
Northwestern Water and Sewer District (NWWSD) provides water and wastewater service to five counties in Northwest Ohio and has been in operation since 1994. Our employees work hard 24/7/365 to deliver on our promise of reliable, high-quality water and wastewater service.
The District purchases drinking water from various municipal providers who treat the water and we operate the system that distributes the water to our customers. The District also operates the system that collects and carries the wastewater from your home to various municipal wastewater treatment plants. Our staff maintains and operates more than 800 miles of water distribution and wastewater collection lines. In addition to water for drinking and other domestic uses, we supply water for fire protection and maintain more than 3,800 fire hydrants in The District. We also administer the water and wastewater system by reading meters and managing customer billing.
Stormwater is water from a rain or snow event. Sanitary sewage is water discharged from in-home plumbing such as sinks, toilets, bathtubs, and showers.
The customer is responsible for water service from the sidewalk or road right-of-way into the building or house. The District is responsible from the water main to the sidewalk or road right-of-way.
The customer is responsible for the sewer lateral from the sidewalk or road right-of-way into the building or house. The District is responsible from sewer main to sidewalk or road right-of-way.
Call the District first. We can help determine if the problem is a public utility or private issue. The District is responsible for sanitary sewer and water only.
Only human waste and toilet paper should be flushed down your toilet. However, our wastewater treatment professionals find a wide variety of items in our sewers and collection facilities, including cell phones, toys, cueballs, and marbles.
The following is a short list of materials that should never be disposed of in kitchen and bathroom sinks, or down your toilet.
Fats, Oils, & Grease (FOG)
Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) come from meats, butters and margarine, lard, food scraps, sauces, salad dressings, dairy products, and cooking oil. When FOG goes down the drain, it hardens and causes sewer pipes to clog. This can lead to a Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) where raw sewage actually backs up into your home, lawn, neighborhood, and streets.
Please do not pour oil and grease down drains or toilets. Grease is the number one cause of sewer blockages in homes. It cools as it travels through pipes and, over time, the accumulation of FOG can block pipes, contribute to clogs, and, eventually, cause raw sewage to surcharge out of nearby manholes.
The solution: allow fat, oils, and grease to harden in a can or carton and then dispose of it in your garbage.
Pharmaceuticals
Did you know that 70% of us take at least one prescription medication, with 1 in 5 Americans taking as many as 5 different medicines on a consistent basis? Nearly 40% of those prescriptions end up going unused. That amounts to 200 million pounds of stockpiled, unused, and expired pills, syrups, and liquids.
In Wood County, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office has an RX Drug Drop Box Program available to deposit unused unwanted, or expired prescription drugs.
Never flush prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medicines down a toilet or sink. Proper disposal of these substances means you are doing your part to protect our water resources. Please follow FDA guidelines.
Personal Care, Cleaning, and Miscellaneous Items
Unlike toilet paper, which breaks down quickly in water, personal, baby, and cleaning/disinfecting wipes remain intact and tangle into massive clogs that jam pumps and block pipes. Even those labeled “flushable” should not be flushed.
Here’s a list of a few other items that cannot be recycled and should always be disposed of in a trash receptacle:
- Toys, or anything made of plastic, including plastic coffee stirrers
- Paper towels
- Cat litter or animal waste
- Diapers and baby wipes
- Cigarette butts
- Disposable toilet brushes and cleaning/disinfecting wipes
- Tampons and sanitary pads, personal care wipes
Blue & green flags are used to indicate where water and sewer utilities are underground. By law, prior to any excavation, the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (OUPS) is called for utility locations to be marked. Calls may be placed by customers, utility departments, engineering firms, or contractors.
Visit the Ohio 811 website for more info.
Septic tanks are always full. Liquid is draining during every use of sanitary sewer. Septic tanks are used to separate liquid and solids.
Visit the EPA page on septic tanks for more info on how your septic tank works.
Every 3 to 7 years solids are required to be removed by a private hauler.
Call our Operations department at (419) 354-9090, option 3. If after hours, call (419) 354-9001 for the Wood County Sheriff’s office; they will relay the information to our after-hours duty person.
You can use your toilet, but no dishwasher or washing machine until one of our maintenance techs can resolve the issue.
No charge unless we find abuse or abnormal use.
Kitty litter, aquarium stone, grease, ground-up chicken bones, abrasives, paint.
Generally 2 hours depending on time of day and other circumstances.
Yes, but it may be in high water alarm. If it does not clear in 20 minutes, call it in. To silence an audible alarm, push the rubber button on the bottom of the alarm box. Do not turn off the power.
Contact GIS Manager Erik Blake at (419) 354-9090, extension 176.
Contact District Engineer Tom Stalter at (419) 354-9090, extension 174.
To see where your water comes from, view our “Who Provides My Water?” online map.
To see planned or underway construction projects, view our Projects page.
To see where the District operates, visit our Water Service page or Sewer Service page.
The District’s rate payers.
An appointed ten-member Board of Trustees. They hire a President, who hires staff and is responsible for all District operations.
Yes, it operates under Chapter 6119 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC).
The District’s board, usually in the 4th quarter of each calendar year.
No.
View our Board of Trustees page for their names and a short biography.
Board members are appointed to 3-year terms; each year, appointments expire on 12/31.
Three of the trustees are appointed by the Wood County Commissioners, one appointed by the Henry County Commissioners, three others are selected by the township members of The District, and the final three are chosen by the municipal members of the District.
They are nominated by member townships or municipalities or the county commissioners and voted upon by the political subdivisions. Interested persons should contact an appointing organization (the Wood or Henry County Board of Trustees, or one of The District’s township or municipal members).
If an existing water or sewer line is available, please contact the District’s customer service department for fees and charges. The number is (419) 354-9090, Option 2. You can get a rough idea of the location of existing water or sewer services through our Services web mapping application here — swipe left or right to get to the water and sewer service maps.
If an existing line is not available, please contact the District’s engineering department at (419) 354-9090, Option 4 to discuss options. Extensions of existing water or sewer lines can sometimes be originated through petitions submitted by benefiting property owners. Petition forms are available on our Establish a Service page.
Extensions of existing water or sewer lines are often initiated either by EPA or Health Department orders for sewage treatment. Extensions of water or sewer lines can also originate through petitions submitted by benefiting property owners.
While the Ohio Revised Code does not specify necessary percentages of support to proceed with a petition project, our Board does seek specific support through public meetings before choosing to proceed with spending money on preliminary engineering and design. The current extension policy requires at least 60% of the benefiting property owners to sign the petition in order for the Board to consider it. If this percentage is reached, the Board may choose to proceed and assess all property owners along the route who benefit. If this percentage is not reached, the project could proceed, but without assessing all owners. In this case, only those residents who petitioned for the project would be charged.
You are generally not required to tap into a newly extended water line, though some municipalities may require you to do so. You might, however, still be assessed for the new water line since you now have improved fire protection capability. On the other hand, Wood County Health Department rules do generally require owners to tap into a local sewer line if your “plumbed building’s” foundation is within 400 feet of a public sewer line.
Yes, you are allowed to continue using your well for outdoor, non-domestic water use. However, these sources cannot be cross-connected or used for indoor, domestic use. So, in essence, you must have two separate piping systems: one for inside use, the second for outside. You must also have a backflow device installed to prevent cross-contamination of the public water system.
Water and sewer project assessments costs vary due to the density of homes or geography of the area to be served. For instance, excavation through rock is much more expensive than excavation through soil. Water assessments on a single-family dwelling with approximately 100 feet of frontage have averaged between $6,000 and $23,000 over the last few projects that we have done. Sewer projects are generally more expensive due to more complex construction requirements. Assessments on both types of project vary greatly due to an area’s geography, the complexity of the project, the availability of grants, and the number of affected dwelling units.
Yes, but if the farm ground meets the “agricultural use” definition of the Wood County Auditor, the assessment can be deferred from collection until the property no longer meets this definition.
Engineers determine the most cost effective and sensible means to build a project. Considerations can include the location of other utilities, road right-of-way options, and a variety of natural or other physical barriers.
Northwestern Water & Sewer District does not operate storm sewers. Stormwater drainage issues are handled by the local municipality or, outside of incorporated areas, by the county engineer. Please call your local city or village, or the county engineer’s office.
In 2017, Rossford City Council Passed an ordinance to create a stormwater utility to allow for the collection of fees to maintain and improve the stormwater system in Rossford.
While the charge appears on The District’s bill, the Stormwater Utility Fee is a City of Rossford fee. The District was contracted by Rossford to be a billing agent.
If you have questions, please contact the City of Rossford at (419) 666-0210 EX 235, email City of Rossford.
The City of Rossford's Storm Utility Notification Letter (PDF).