Regulation

The Safe Drinking Water Act covers more than 90 contaminants — right up until the water crosses onto your building's property. After that, nobody's testing anything.

Most of the world worries about pathogens in water. We worry about parts per trillion. Both are real problems — but knowing which one you have changes what you should do about it.

Drinking water compliance is built on annual averages and 95th percentiles — which is good policy and still tells you almost nothing about what came out of the tap in your breakroom last Tuesday.

California wrote one of the first regulatory definitions of microplastics in drinking water. Everywhere else, the word doesn't legally mean anything yet — and that's the whole problem.

EPA is proposing to pull back standards for four PFAS chemicals while Europe's broader rules phase in — and your office breakroom sits on the wrong side of that split.

EPA kept the 4 parts per trillion limit but gave water systems two extra years to hit it — and your office breakroom is the one waiting.