The Mad River Well Field has 70 wells that range from 18 to 38 inches in diameter and from 50 to 205 feet in depth. Twenty-nine wells are located at the Rohrer's Island area in eastern Dayton. Other well locations extend to the north, and southwest along the Mad River. The individual well capacities range from one to four million gallons per day. The water table at Rohrer's Island is maintained by artificial recharge from a series of excavated channels fed by the Mad River. Water discharged from the wells flows by gravity for a distance of three miles to the Ottawa Treatment Plant. Pipe sizes in the delivery system range from 10 to 84 inches.

The Miami Well Field is located in north Dayton near the Miami Water Treatment Plant. This well field has 37 wells that range from 24 to 26 inches in diameter and from 80 to 180 feet deep. The individual well capacities range from one to four million gallons per day.

Artificial recharge of the aquifer is used extensively at the Miami Well Field. Water from the Miami River flows into an inlet channel and then through three 48-inch pipes to a small lake. Water then flows through a 66 inch pipe and polymers are added before the river water flows into a 20 acre stilling basin. The polymers help settle out the river silt. The stilling basin has seven earthen dikes to prevent short circuiting as water flows through the basin and to allow better access for solids removal. A Recharge Pumping Station pumps water from the stilling basin into thirty-one trenched and gravel filled recharge ponds. Water also flows from the stilling basin into two recharge lagoons.

In 1985 the Water Department began development of a Well Field Protection Program to counter threats to groundwater quality. This program /includes land use control zoning, groundwater remediation and emergency preparedness. An early warning network of approximately 160 monitoring wells surrounds both well fields. These wells are sampled and tested for water quality. Eighteen packed tower air stripping systems were constructed to treat contaminated groundwater. Dayton's Well Field Protection Program is internationally recognized and was the first program approved by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In 1998, the American Water Works Association presented its large system, Well Field Protection Program Award to the City of Dayton. Dayton has also been designated as a Groundwater Guardian community by the Groundwater Foundation. Dayton encourages environmentally friendly, economic development projects in its groundwater protection areas.