The EPA tracks 320+ contaminants. Your utility is only required to limit 92. Let's find out what's in yours right now, for free.
Only drink bottled? You still cook, shower and brush your teeth in tap water. This matters to you too.
Enter your zip code to see your local water system's contaminant history and get a link to your full consumer report.
ⓘ Data from EPA SDWIS via EWG · No account or email required
Know the difference
Tap, filtered, alkaline, ionized, electrolyzed, structured, hydrogen-rich — here is what they actually mean and what actually matters.
Treated with chlorine, fluoride and disinfectants. May contain DBPs, heavy metals, PFAS and microplastics. Meets legal standards but not EWG health guidelines. Use a solid filter before drinking.
Often filtered tap water in plastic that leaches microplastics. Up to 240,000 plastic fragments per liter confirmed in 2024. Expensive and not meaningfully cleaner than what you are trying to avoid.
Naturally filtered through rock, picks up trace minerals. Best free option: findaspring.com. Always bring glass containers.
Just high pH, often bicarbonate of soda added. High pH alone has no proven therapeutic effect. Do not confuse pH with dissolved hydrogen content. The most marketed and most misunderstood category.
Reverse osmosis removes 95%+ of contaminants including PFAS, heavy metals and nitrates. Best starting point before any enhancement. Re-mineralize after RO for long-term use.
Produced via electrolysis. Infuses water with dissolved molecular hydrogen gas — the therapeutic molecule. Not just high pH. Look for dissolved H₂ in ppm. This is what actually changes things.
What hides in safe water
Never break down in the environment or your body. Detected in 200+ million Americans' water supplies. Linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, immune dysfunction and reproductive harm. Many PFAS have no federal limit at all.
Chlorine reacts with organic matter to form trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids — recognized carcinogens found in virtually every US treated water system. They also create cellular oxidative stress, the same mechanism driving chronic inflammation.
Lead leaches from aging pipes and there is no safe level in children. Arsenic is linked to bladder and lung cancer. Hexavalent chromium is in 200+ million Americans' water. Mercury, cadmium and barium round out the list.
Agricultural runoff carries nitrates, atrazine (an endocrine disruptor found in 90% of US water samples) and glyphosate — a patented antibiotic that disrupts your gut microbiome with every exposure.
Confirmed in human blood, lungs, placentas, breast milk and testicles. A 2024 Columbia University study found up to 240,000 plastic fragments per liter in bottled water. They carry BPA, phthalates and PFAS directly into your cells.
Antibiotics, antidepressants, synthetic estrogens and trace chemotherapy drugs have been detected in US tap water. Conventional treatment was never designed to remove them.
The legal vs EWG gap: A legal limit is what utilities must stay below to avoid EPA enforcement. The EWG health guideline is what peer-reviewed science says is safe long-term. For many contaminants the legal limit is 10 to 1,000 times higher than the EWG guideline. Meets federal standards does not mean safe.
The invisible epidemic
microplastic particles the average person ingests per week — the equivalent of a credit card's worth of plastic.
See What Bottled Water Is Costing You →Microplastics confirmed in human
blood, lungs, placentas, breast milk and testicles
Peer-reviewed studies 2023 to 2024
Bottled water contains
up to 240,000 plastic fragments per liter
Columbia University, 2024
Plastic particles carry
BPA, phthalates and PFAS
Potent hormone disruptors, directly into cells
In the body microplastics trigger
chronic inflammation and oxidative stress
The root driver of most modern disease
A 2024 NEJM study found people with microplastics in arterial plaques had a 4.5x higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death.
Watch: Plastic People / The Plastic Detox — Netflix
It will permanently change how you shop, cook and hydrate. Watch it before your next grocery run.
Which numbers are safe (#1 #2 #4 #5) and which to eliminate (#3 #6 #7)
The true cost
Most people spend more on bottled water in a year than a whole-home filtration solution costs over its entire lifetime.
Select your brand — we handle the pricing
Compare your options (vs. bottled water)
Your action plan
Start where you are. Every step removes burden from your body. Free options are available right now.
Find a natural spring near you at findaspring.com — free, mineral-rich and in glass
Call your utility and ask for your Consumer Confidence Report — required by law, they must provide it free
Stop buying single-use plastic bottles — you are adding microplastics, not avoiding contaminants
Switch to glass or stainless steel containers for everything you drink
The right filter depends on your specific contaminants. Look up your zip above, then match the filter to what is actually in your water.
Chlorine and taste: activated carbon block filter
Lead, PFAS, nitrates, arsenic: reverse osmosis removes 95%+
Heavy contamination: multi-stage RO plus carbon block plus sediment pre-filter
Well water: annual testing plus filtration matched to your specific results
H₂ crosses cell membranes and the blood-brain barrier — the most bioavailable antioxidant known
Selectively neutralizes the most damaging free radicals without disrupting your immune system
One ionizer serves your whole household for 15 to 20 years — Maddie will match you to the right setup for your specific water
Payment plans and financing questions welcome on the call
This comes from a marketing translation problem. When Japanese manufacturers first brought electrolyzed water to Western markets the shorthand became "alkaline water" — a description of a byproduct, not the actual mechanism. The therapeutic agent is dissolved molecular hydrogen gas, not the pH number.
H₂ is an electrically neutral gas molecule. It does not interact with your stomach acid at all. It passes directly through cell membranes and is absorbed before it ever reaches the stomach. Your body buffers any pH shift instantly, the same way it does when you eat a lemon. The high pH is a side effect of electrolysis. The H₂ is the medicine.
When you hear ionized or alkaline water from quality machines, look for dissolved H₂ concentration in ppm — that is the number that tells you something. A water with pH 9.5 and zero dissolved H₂ does nothing therapeutic. A water with 1.0+ ppm dissolved H₂ can measurably reduce oxidative stress regardless of pH.
Tell Maddie your zip code and your biggest health concerns and she will email you a personalized filter recommendation matched to what is actually in your water. No generic advice — just exactly what makes sense for your situation.
Maddie also does free calls to walk you through options in real time. Payment plans welcome.
Payment plans and financing questions welcome on the call
Educational purposes only. The information on this website is intended for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Individual results vary. Always consult a qualified and licensed healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or if you have or suspect a medical condition.