About WaterSafeCheck
Independent drinking water data transparency and public utility analysis
Our Mission
WaterSafeCheck is an independent data journalism and engineering project. Our goal is simple: to make public health and water quality data easily accessible and understandable for every American household.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collects extensive reports from thousands of public water utilities. However, these compliance records are often locked inside complex databases like the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) or dense annual Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs) that are hard for the average resident to locate and interpret.
We built this platform to bridge that gap. By parsing and organizing open-source government databases, we present clear, localized safety grades, lead risks, and compliance histories for over 41,000 U.S. ZIP codes — entirely free, without requiring any sign-up or personal data.
Our Data Integrity Standards
To ensure the highest accuracy in compliance with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) search guidelines:
- No Speculation: Every grade and score is derived programmatically from official, historical EPA records. We do not make estimates or speculate on water quality.
- Official Citations: We link directly to official sources like the EPA SDWIS Database and the ECHO Compliance History.
- Regular Updates: Data is synchronized regularly when the EPA updates its quarterly compliance tracking datasets.
- Complete Independence: WaterSafeCheck has no financial relationship or partnerships with water utilities, municipal governments, or filter manufacturers. Our platform operates as a 100% free public health data resource.
Official Health Guidelines
For drinking water safety, we follow the established standards and thresholds set by public health authorities:
EPA Standards
Sets the enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
View EPA Guidelines →CDC Guidance
Provides recommendations on lead exposure prevention and health effects of water contaminants.
View CDC Guidance →NSF International
Maintains standards for water treatment systems (Standard 42, 53, and 58).
Verify NSF Filters →Our Primary Data Sources
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) ↗
Primary SourceTracks compliance for over 150,000 public water systems nationwide, including violations, system identification, and population served metrics.
EPA ECHO — Enforcement and Compliance History Online ↗
Enforcement DataShows whether violations resulted in formal regulatory enforcement actions, penalties, or compliance orders, which we use to model compliance risk.
The latest national screening data tracking unregulated chemical contaminants (including 29 PFAS/forever chemicals) between 2023 and 2025.
How Safety Scores are Calculated
Our platform evaluates raw EPA data using a clear, objective scoring methodology. Each monitored area is graded on a scale from 0 to 100 based on the following weighted indicators:
Health-Based Violations (5 years)
The number and chronological severity of violations where a water system exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL).
Unresolved Violations
Violations that remain open or active in official EPA records, indicating unresolved water quality challenges.
Lead Exposure Probability
Estimated exposure risks derived from housing and service line infrastructure age data.
Enforcement Actions
Formal state or federal compliance orders issued to utilities, indicating the severity of historical compliance lapses.
Infrastructure Risk Indicators
Boil water advisory histories, energy burden proxies, and localized flood risk costs.
Data Limitations & Disclaimers
We do not test water ourselves. All reports are compiled from public database logs reported by municipal utilities to the EPA.
Data reflects historical compliance records and may not account for real-time changes or temporary local disruptions.
Private well water is not tracked by the Safe Drinking Water Act or logged in the SDWIS database. Well owners should arrange independent laboratory testing.
Our reports provide general utility data. Home plumbing systems (especially pre-1986 pipes) can introduce lead that is not captured by municipal water main samples.
Editorial Leadership & Research
All data ingestion pipelines, scoring models, and educational articles are reviewed by our dedicated environmental data research team to maintain high technical accuracy and strict alignment with Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) standards.
Marcus J. Webb
Lead Environmental Data Analyst10+ Years EPA Compliance Research & Public Utility Data Ingestion
Marcus specializes in environmental informatics, geospatial database modeling, and federal Safe Drinking Water Act compliance reporting. He has spent over a decade parsing municipal water utility filings, Consumer Confidence Reports, and EPA SDWIS/ECHO enforcement logs to translate dense federal regulatory documentation into accessible, data-driven consumer guidance.
Get in Touch
If you have questions about our data parsing, methodology, or would like to report a data correction, please contact us.
📋 Contact Form
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