Quick Drips

Pennsylvania told anglers not to eat fish from the Wissahickon Creek basin after PFOS turned up in fish tissue. That is a watershed finding, not a tap water result. Here is how to tell the two apart and find your own system's numbers.

In a system meeting federal standards, tap water is generally considered safe to drink. The qualifiers are local, and lead and nitrate are the two worth a deliberate look during pregnancy.

A September nor'easter put parts of the East Coast under water. If you draw from a private well, flood water means the well is contaminated until a certified laboratory says otherwise. Here is the order of operations.

A central Iowa city told residents in September not to give the tap water to infants and not to boil it. Nitrate and nitrite are the two contaminants where boiling makes things worse and a carbon pitcher is not the answer.

Two Midwest utilities sent notices days apart this month: a 24 hour boil water advisory in Kalamazoo and a 30 day PFAS notice in Pewaukee. The tier on a drinking water notice tells you how fast to act, and where a filter fits.

August is National Water Quality Month. A calm guide to testing your tap water: the free reports you already have, why we steer people away from strip kits, and when a certified lab is worth it.

About one in five US water service lines is still logged as unknown material, and thousands of utilities have missed the federal deadline to say which. Here is how to check the pipe at your own house, and what to do while you wait.