WATER TREATMENT · 45 MIN FROM OUR GREENVILLE OFFICE
New Castle’s public water is Shenango River water that reaches taps carrying chloramine, fluoride and an orthophosphate inhibitor. On the city supply, chloramine removal is the usual question; on township wells, iron is.
Serving our communities since 1967
USGS sampled Lawrence 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- Very hardMedian 12.3 gpg; 86% of 29 wells hard or very hardThe softener
- Iron79% of 29 wells above 0.3 mg/L; median 1.3 mg/LThe iron system
- Manganese58% of 24 wells above 0.05 mg/LThe iron system
- pHMedian pH 7.4; 0% of 27 wells below 6.5Blue-green stains
- Town waterPA American Water Co. New Castle: about 43,279 people, surface water it treats itselfChlorine removal
- Not on recordBacteria, nitrate, PFAS, arsenicWater testing
- 29 wellsIn the USGS record for Lawrence County. Each well counts once, as the median of its samples.
- 961 wellsDomestic wells on file within 5 miles of New Castle, a median 134 feet deep.
- 45 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 NEW CASTLE
The Equipment New Castle
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.
- VERY HARD AT THE MEDIAN
Water softeners
86% of sampled Lawrence County wells were hard or very hard, at a median of 12.3 grains per gallon. Your softener is sized to your own test.
EXPLORE - 79% OF WELLS ABOVE THE IRON LINE
Iron & manganese removal
79% of sampled wells were above 0.3 mg/L of iron and 58% above the manganese line. The FerronX goes in at the point of entry, ahead of the softener.
EXPLORE - ON TOWN WATER
Chlorine removal
New Castle’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 45 minutes from New Castle. What it finds decides which equipment you need and the order it goes in.
EXPLORE
WATER TREATMENT IN NEW CASTLE
What New Castle Water Says,
and What We Do About It.
Shenango River water, step by step
PA American Water’s system here draws from a single Shenango River intake and lists one treatment plant, serving 43,279 people through 18,707 connections. The steps start with what a river carries. Rapid mix, coagulation and flocculation clump fine particles, sedimentation settles them, and rapid sand filters catch the rest. Permanganate takes out iron and manganese, and powdered activated carbon handles taste and odor.
Disinfection comes in layers: chlorine before and after filtration, an ultraviolet step, and chloramine to hold down disinfection by-products. Fluoride is added. The result at your faucet is filtered, fluoridated water with a chloramine residual. Wells, pumps and drilling outside the city are covered on our New Castle page.
Chloramine, orthophosphate and the lead record
Chloramine lasts longer in the pipes than chlorine, which is why it reaches your tap, and a pitcher filter made for chlorine may leave it behind. A CityLux at the point of entry removes chlorine and chloramine for the whole house.
For the pipes, the system adds lime and soda ash, adjusts pH after treatment and feeds an orthophosphate corrosion inhibitor. The lead record is steady: a 90th percentile of 0.003 mg/L in 2016, then 0.002 mg/L in 2019, 2022 and 2025, all under the 0.015 mg/L action level. Those numbers reflect homes sampled across the system; your own tap can differ. A lead test settles it, and reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink is what we’d install if lead turns up.
Township wells and the Pottsville Formation
Around the city, the state’s PaGWIS records hold 961 well logs within 5 miles. Median depth is 134 feet, median yield 18 gallons a minute and median depth to bedrock 36 feet. The rock mapped under the city is Pottsville Formation sandstone and conglomerate, Pennsylvanian in age.
Iron is the headline for these wells. In the Lawrence County record, 79 percent of sampled wells topped the 0.3 mg/L line where orange staining starts, and the median was 1.3 mg/L. The FerronX Iron System removes iron and manganese together. If the water also smells of rotten eggs, the CataPure Carbon System with chlorine or peroxide injection takes care of the odor, and a LuxSoft softener can follow for hardness.
The Lawrence County record
USGS samples from Lawrence County wells, taken 1928–2023: 86% of wells hard or very hard, 79% over the iron line, 0% below pH 6.5. The full record, measure by measure, is on the Lawrence County water treatment page.
From our Greenville office
New Castle is about 45 minutes and 28 miles by road from our Greenville office, and the municipalities around it get the same crews and the same drive: Union Township, Neshannock Township, Shenango Township, Taylor Township, Hickory Township, North Beaver Township, Mahoning Township, Wilmington Township, Bessemer, Slippery Rock Township. Nearby on the map:
- Wampum, PA
- Bessemer, PA
- New Wilmington, PA
- New Beaver, PA
- Volant, PA
- Lowellville, OH
- All of Lawrence County
Source: Water quality: USGS National Water Information System results for Lawrence 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 Lawrence County, 171 wells with a recorded depth, retrieved 2026-09-14.
A LITTLE CLARITY
New Castle Questions.
Straight Answers.
Does New Castle water have chlorine or chloramine?
Both appear on EPA’s list for the system. Chlorine is added before and after filtration, and chloramine is used to limit disinfection by-products, so the water that reaches your home carries chloramine. The CityLux removes both for the whole house, which also takes care of the smell in showers and the taste in cooking water.
Does the system’s UV step protect water in my pipes?
No. Ultraviolet light disinfects water as it passes the lamp and leaves nothing behind in it, so its effect ends at the lamp. The chloramine residual is what continues through the pipes. On a private well, a Luminor UV lamp works the same way at the point of entry, installed after the filters, when a lab test finds bacteria.
Should I soften New Castle city water?
Softening isn’t among the steps EPA lists for the system, although lime and soda ash are added for corrosion control. A test at your tap gives the hardness in grains per gallon. If the number is high enough to scale fixtures and water heaters, a LuxSoft softener sized to it is the fix. If not, leave it.
Do you test water in New Castle?
Yes. Chatfield’s water test and consultation cover New Castle from our Greenville office, about 45 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 New Castle
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.