A New Tool Helps Expose What's In Your Tap Water

This database offers the first-ever look at differences between utility and home testing results.

Photo by PAN XIAOZHEN on Unsplash

Want a straightforward way to know what’s really in the water coming out of your tap?

SimpleLab has launched a national version of their City Water Project (CWP), the first daily updated tap water database that’s free for the public and available throughout the U.S.

It’s the only tool of its kind to centralize point-of-use water quality tests at the tap with publicly available water quality data from utilities. And, it updates nightly to reflect new tap water test results wherever they’re taken.

Pretty cool, right?

CWP brings you the most complete picture of utility water in your area. This data comes from public sources as well as aggregated and anonymized home testing results, so it’s the first ever tap water database to look at differences between utility and home testing results.

This search tool is a great way to help understand what the water quality is like near you, your customers, or your constituents.

Of course, you can still use Environmental Working Group’s database too (https://www.ewg.org/tapwater), and we asked about some of the differences between EWG and CWP.

“Here at SimpleLab we are huge fans of EWG and recommend their tap water tool all the time,” said John Pujol, the CEO of SimpleLab, an award-winning science and health services company founded at the University of California in Berkeley with the mission of improving your drinking water and long-term health. “We see the CWP as a new tool in the tool box for understanding your water quality, not a competitor. If EWG is the hammer, we are the screwdriver.”

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Here are a few other points to consider:

EWG
Utility data only: Only displays data collected by the water utility itself, required by regulation. This is often only from sampling points at the treatment facility.
Older data: Typically can only refresh once every few years.

CWP
Utility + Neighborhood data: Combines state and federal water utility data with point-of-use testing results. So in addition to public data, you can now also see water quality results nearby, from taps in homes, schools, and businesses, plus unregulated contaminants (not usually tested for).
More recent data: CWP updates daily.

Why is it important to collect outside of the water utility?
On-premise plumbing, pipes, and distance from the treatment facility all have impact on the water quality that comes out of your tap. CWP’s database gives you a richer picture of the water quality near you.

What is on the horizon?
Soon you’ll be able to compare your tap water to bottled water quality options, as well as see data for local groundwater and surface water. Remember, 44 million Americans have private wells.

Where’s the point-of-use data from?
Thanks to our water testing service, Tap Score, we can show anonymized tap water data and benefit everyone (not everyone can afford to test their own tap water). Tap Score is a service for easy home water testing and reporting, created by SimpleLab.

How can you update your results so frequently?
We built a custom application for syncing and cleaning state and federal databases data and FOIA requests very efficiently. In addition, there’s a fast-growing cadre of people at home testing everyday with Tap Score and SimpleLab.

Are you ready to see what’s in your water?

Try this free tool here: https://gosimplelab.com/citywater

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What’s in the water in your town? Or have other tools to share? Let us know in the comments below. Knowledge is power!!