There are more than 80,000 chemicals used in industry and commerce.
How many of them do you think are regulated in drinking water in the United States?
Only 96 out of 80,000! The majority of chemicals in drinking water are NOT regulated.
What has been done? What do the latest data show?
What about your own county? What can you do?
This website allows you to find out more about tap water quality in your home county, as well as the entire continental US.
We will look closer into 28 potentially most harmful chemicals, which are currently beyond government regulation.
The graph presents all the counties in the US. The y-axis is the Water contamination index*. Lower scores mean better quality. The x-axis is the number of water samples tested in a county. Higher numbers mean more extensive examination. The bubble size represents the population size of a county.
*Water contamination index = log base 10 of ratio between concentration and Method Reporting Limit (MRL).
e.g., chemical X is detected at 100 times the MRL, then its water contamination index is log_10(100)=2.
Cindy is a data scientist at Mathematica. Her research interests include environmental health, predictive modeling, and data analytics to support health policy decision making.
Paul is a Research Scientist and program point person at NYU Center on International Cooperation. He holds a master's degree in International Development from Harvard University. He specializes in econometrics and project management.
Daniel is a candidate for Masters in Design Studies (MDes-- Art, Design, and the Public Domain) at Harvard University. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and works in a variety of design media.