Methodology
Legal & Usage Boundaries
How we handle data use rights, what third parties can and can't do with our content, and the legal guardrails built into our publishing process.
Underlying Data Rights
The core data used by Water Utility Report is sourced from U.S. federal and state government agencies. Federal government works are in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. This means the raw data (utility names, PWSID numbers, violation records, contaminant measurements) carries no copyright restriction.
Federal government data is public domain
EPA SDWIS, ECHO, CCR data, and CDC health guidance are not subject to copyright. We do not need a license to republish derived facts from these sources.
State data requires per-state verification
State open data portals operate under varying terms. We verify that each state dataset explicitly allows normalization and derived republication before ingestion.
Third-party databases are off-limits
EWG Tap Water Database, WQA member directory, and NSF certified product datasets are commercially licensed or nonprofit databases. We do not scrape or reproduce these without explicit written permission.
Our original content carries copyright
The summaries, FAQs, framing, and analysis we write are our original creative work. These are not in the public domain — they are copyrighted by Water Utility Report.
What Third Parties Can Do
Link to any page on this site
No restriction. Deep-linking to utility, contaminant, or state pages is encouraged.
Cite individual facts with attribution
Brief factual quotes with attribution (e.g., "According to Water Utility Report...") are acceptable under fair use.
Reproduce short excerpts for journalistic or educational purposes
Fair use applies. Excerpts must be attributed and not republished in bulk.
Bulk-copy page content for republication
Reproducing our pages or summaries in bulk — including via AI training dataset collection — is not permitted without a written license.
Scrape the site with automated tools
Automated scraping at volume is not permitted. robots.txt is enforced. Data needs are better served by our source APIs (EPA SDWIS, ECHO) directly.
Use our content in AI training datasets
Our original written content (summaries, FAQs, framing) may not be used for AI training without a written license. Source-derived data facts are not restricted by this.
Health & Medical Disclaimer
Nothing on Water Utility Report constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Water quality information is presented for informational purposes only.
- Contaminant presence at or below the EPA MCL is a regulatory determination, not a guarantee of absolute safety — MCLs balance public health with treatment feasibility.
- Some contaminants have non-zero MCLGs (maximum contaminant level goals) below their enforced MCL, meaning some health risk may exist at legally compliant levels.
- Sensitive populations (infants, pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals) may face higher risk than the general population from contaminants where the MCL was set for average adults.
- We do not recommend specific medical tests or treatments. For health concerns related to water quality, consult a licensed healthcare provider.
- For formal water testing (legal, regulatory, or real estate purposes), use a state-certified laboratory, not this site.
Service Area Accuracy
ZIP code → utility matching is modeled from spatial overlap between ZIP code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) and utility service area boundaries. This approach has known limitations:
ZIP codes and utility service areas don't align perfectly
A single ZIP code may span multiple utility service areas, or one utility may serve parts of many ZIPs. We show the primary match (highest overlap) but flag ambiguous cases.
Service area boundaries are often unavailable or outdated
Many utilities have not published GIS service area boundaries. We model from available data and mark match confidence accordingly. Low-confidence matches display an explicit 'likely match' label.
Your water bill is the authoritative source
For definitive confirmation of your water provider, check your water bill, contact your municipality, or use your utility's own service area checker if available.
Legal Questions or Licensing
For licensing inquiries, data use questions, correction requests, or legal notices, please contact us through the information on our methodology page. We respond to all factual correction requests within 5 business days.