PICKAWAY COUNTY, Ohio — The Sunset Mobile Home Park in Pickaway County has been cited by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for exceeding safe manganese levels in its drinking water, posing potential health risks to residents. A Notice of Violation (NOV), dated March 19, 2025, highlights significant deficiencies in the park’s water treatment operations and calls for immediate corrective action.
According to the Ohio EPA, the park’s public water system reported manganese levels above the health advisory limit (HAL) of 0.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) during one week in February 2025. Elevated manganese levels in drinking water are classified as a serious issue, potentially leading to adverse neurological or behavioral effects, particularly in children. The agency emphasized that failure to resolve the problem poses an unacceptable risk to public health.
The NOV also noted that the park failed to properly operate its permanganate feed system, a violation of previously approved operational plans dating back to 2010. This failure, along with the manganese exceedance, violates both the Ohio Administrative Code and the Revised Code governing public water systems.
The Ohio EPA has instructed Sunset Mobile Home Park to submit a detailed plan within 30 days outlining how the water system will address these deficiencies and ensure compliance. Failure to act could result in civil or administrative penalties.
The Notice of Violation from the Ohio EPA states: “Exceeding the HAL for manganese in finished drinking water is considered a significant deficiency, as it constitutes a defect in the design, operation, maintenance, administration, or failure or malfunction in a system component that provides a pathway for contamination into the distribution system and has the potential to cause an unacceptable risk to health.”
A search of EPA records reveals over a dozen different violations since 2015.