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Standards and Regulations

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How the EPA, EWG, and state regulators frame drinking water quality — and how to read each framework alongside the others. The topic where we work hardest to be balanced and to acknowledge what is contested.

Articles in this topic

EPA drinking water standards — what they protect and what they don't

The EPA sets federally enforceable standards for contaminants in public drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The standards protect public health at the scale of the entire United States and reflect a deliberate balance between health protection and the practical reality of treating water at thousands of utilities. This article explains how the standards are structured, how they get set, what they cover, what they leave out, and how to read your own water's situation against them.

May 17, 2026Read article →

EWG drinking water standards — what they are and how to read them alongside EPA standards

The Environmental Working Group publishes health-based guidelines for drinking water contaminants that are typically more conservative than EPA's federally enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels. The guidelines are grounded in legitimate scientific sources and have measurably moved regulatory attention to contaminants like PFAS. They are not peer-reviewed regulatory standards. This article explains what EWG's guidelines are, where the numbers come from, what they do well, where they have limits, and how to read your water's situation against both EWG and EPA benchmarks.

May 17, 2026Read article →

These articles touch on standards and regulations as a related subject.

Also relevant

Health-based vs. aesthetic water concerns

Not every water problem is a health problem. The EPA regulates drinking water under two separate frameworks — enforceable Primary Standards for contaminants with known or suspected health effects, and non-enforceable Secondary Standards for taste, smell, color, and how water interacts with plumbing. Knowing which kind of concern you have changes what's at stake, what testing makes sense, and what to do about it.

May 17, 2026Read article →

Should I test my water? How, and what do the results mean?

Whether you should test your water depends on what you're trying to find out, where it comes from, and what's already known about it. For most municipal customers, the utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report is the starting point. For private well owners, testing is essential on a regular schedule. This article walks through how to decide, what to test, where to send samples, and how to read the result.

May 17, 2026Read article →

Well water vs. municipal water — different problems, different solutions

Where your water comes from changes almost everything about how to think about it. Municipal water is monitored, regulated, and treated by a utility before it reaches your home; private well water is your responsibility from the aquifer to the tap. Each situation has its own typical problems, oversight structure, and decision points about testing and treatment.

May 17, 2026Read article →

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