WATER TREATMENT · 14 MIN FROM OUR GREENVILLE OFFICE
Around Mercer the well picture comes first: 606 logs within 5 miles put the median well at 90 feet, with rock at a median 30 feet. Unlike the borough’s Aqua supply, those wells have no iron removal ahead of them.
Serving our communities since 1967
USGS sampled Mercer County wells between 1928 and 2023. That shows what is common here, and your own water test sets the size of the system.
Schedule a water test- HardMedian 7.6 gpg; 59% of 102 wells hard or very hardThe softener
- Iron58% of 99 wells above 0.3 mg/L; median 0.45 mg/LThe iron system
- Manganese54% of 93 wells above 0.05 mg/LThe iron system
- pHMedian pH 7.4; 9% of 96 wells below 6.5Blue-green stains
- Town waterAqua PA Shenango Valley Water Treatment Plant: about 48,000 people, surface water it treats itselfChlorine removal
- Not on recordBacteria, nitrate, PFAS, arsenicWater testing
- 102 wellsIn the USGS record for Mercer County. Each well counts once, as the median of its samples.
- 606 wellsDomestic wells on file within 5 miles of Mercer, a median 90 feet deep.
- 14 minFrom our Greenville office by road. Same crews, same drive, for the whole area.
- WHAT YOUR TEST ADDS
- Your well’s numbers, not the county’s
- Bacteria and nitrate, which the record never covers
- Which equipment your water needs, and in what order
WHAT WE INSTALL IN MERCER
The Equipment Mercer
Water Tends to Need.
Chatfield Water Systems is one line, with one system per problem. Your water test decides which ones you need and in what order; the county record shows which are likely.
- HARD AT THE MEDIAN
Water softeners
59% of sampled Mercer County wells were hard or very hard, at a median of 7.6 grains per gallon. Your softener is sized to your own test.
EXPLORE - 58% OF WELLS ABOVE THE IRON LINE
Iron & manganese removal
58% of sampled wells were above 0.3 mg/L of iron and 54% above the manganese line. The FerronX goes in at the point of entry, ahead of the softener.
EXPLORE - ON TOWN WATER
Chlorine removal
Mercer’s public water is disinfected surface water, so the chlorine is still in it at the tap. The CityLux takes it out of the whole supply.
EXPLORE - FIRST, EVERY TIME
A water test
Every system above starts with a test of your well or your tap water, from our Greenville office, about 14 minutes from Mercer. What it finds decides which equipment you need and the order it goes in.
EXPLORE
WATER TREATMENT IN MERCER
What Mercer Water Says,
and What We Do About It.
The well logs around Mercer
Pennsylvania’s PaGWIS well database holds 606 logs with a recorded depth inside 5 miles of the borough. Half the wells are between 67 and 125 feet deep, and the median is 90. Drillers reach rock at a median 30 feet, with the middle half from 18 to 48. The rock mapped at the town center is the Pottsville Formation: sandstone and conglomerate laid down in the Pennsylvanian. The yield logs, 472 of them, give a median of 20 gallons per minute and a middle half from 15 to 40.
A log records depth, rock and flow. It doesn’t record iron, hardness, pH or bacteria, and those are what decide treatment. Measuring them takes a sample from your own tap, tested on site, with a certified lab handling bacteria and nitrate. The county treatment page has the wider USGS sample record.
Iron: permanganate at the plant, FerronX at home
The public supply in Mercer is Aqua PA Shenango Valley, and on EPA’s map the town center falls inside its service area. That plant takes water from the Shenango River and lists permanganate for iron and manganese removal, along with coagulation, settling and rapid sand filters. By the time it reaches a borough tap, it has already been treated for iron.
A well in the townships has no such step. Iron above the 0.3 mg/L line leaves orange and rust-colored stains, manganese above 0.05 mg/L leaves dark ones, and both build up in fixtures and appliances. The FerronX Iron System does at the house what permanganate and sand filters do at the plant: it pulls iron and manganese out before the water reaches your fixtures.
Borough homes on the Aqua line
If your Mercer home is on the Aqua line, a few listed steps change what you get at the tap. Chloramine is one, entered for disinfection by-product control. It outlasts plain chlorine in the pipes, and a CityLux removes both. Fluoride is added, and an orthophosphate inhibitor goes in for corrosion control.
EPA’s lead record for the system shows a 90th percentile of 0.0028 mg/L in the 2016 round and 0 mg/L in 2019, 2022 and 2025, all below the 0.015 mg/L action level. That covers the whole system, which serves about 48,000 people. For your own tap, a lab test gives the answer, and reverse osmosis at the sink is the usual step if lead turns up. The system’s full water report comes from Aqua.
The Mercer County record
USGS samples from Mercer County wells, taken 1928–2023: 59% of wells hard or very hard, 58% over the iron line, 9% below pH 6.5. The full record, measure by measure, is on the Mercer County water treatment page.
From our Greenville office
Mercer is about 14 minutes and 10 miles by road from our Greenville office, and the municipalities around it get the same crews and the same drive: East Lackawannock Township, Coolspring Township, Findley Township, Jefferson Township, Jackson Township, Springfield Township, Jackson Center, Lackawannock Township, Fredonia, Wilmington Township. Nearby on the map:
- Lake Latonka, PA
- Fredonia, PA
- Volant, PA
- New Wilmington, PA
- Grove City, PA
- Stoneboro, PA
- All of Mercer County
Source: Water quality: USGS National Water Information System results for Mercer County wells, served through the Water Quality Portal, sampled between 1928 and 2023, retrieved 2026-09-14. Each well counts once, as the median of its samples. The 0.3 mg/L iron and 0.05 mg/L manganese marks are EPA secondary standards, which are aesthetic limits, not health limits. Well depth: USGS groundwater site inventory for Mercer County, 2,406 wells with a recorded depth, retrieved 2026-09-14.
A LITTLE CLARITY
Mercer Questions.
Straight Answers.
Is Mercer borough on public water?
On EPA’s map, the town center falls inside the Aqua PA Shenango Valley service area, so borough homes on the line get river water treated at that plant, and their water report comes from Aqua. Homes off those lines are on private wells.
Can a well near Mercer have manganese without iron?
It can. The two often travel together, but not always, and manganese above 0.05 mg/L leaves dark brown or black staining on its own. A test that reports both tells you which you have. The FerronX Iron System handles either one, with its setup adjusted to what the test shows.
How deep is a typical well near Mercer?
The median of the logged wells within 5 miles is 90 feet, and half of them fall between 67 and 125 feet. In the middle half of the logs, rock starts between 18 and 48 feet down. Your own depth depends on where water turns up in the rock, so the logs set expectations; they don’t predict a single lot.
Do you test water in Mercer?
Yes. Chatfield’s water test and consultation cover Mercer from our Greenville office, about 14 minutes away by road. The test measures what is in your water and at what level, and any equipment it points to is quoted after the results.
Talk with the Chatfield team.
(724) 588-2652A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE GOES A LONG WAY
Know Your Water.
WATER PROBLEMSDo you have hard water?
The signs, the county hardness record, and how to confirm it.
WATER PROBLEMSOrange stains from your well water.
Read the stain, the county iron record, and what to note before you call.
WATER PROBLEMSBacteria in your water.
What a coliform result means, what to do now, and which treatment follows.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Better Water in Mercer
Starts with a Test.
Call or fill out the form to schedule your water test. We’ll come out from Greenville, measure what is in the water, and recommend the equipment that fits.