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.
Last updated: May 2025
Disclaimer of Warranties
This site and all content are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or accuracy. Water Utility Report does not warrant that information on this site is complete, current, or free from error. Use of this site is at your own risk.
Underlying Data Rights
The core data used by Water Utility Report is sourced from U.S. federal and state government agencies. Works of the U.S. federal government are not subject to copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. § 105. This means the raw factual data — utility names, PWSID numbers, violation records, and contaminant measurements — carries no copyright restriction.
Federal government data is not subject to copyright
EPA SDWIS, ECHO, UCMR 5, and CDC health guidance are works of the U.S. government and are not protected by copyright under 17 U.S.C. § 105. We do not require a license to publish 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 permits normalization and derived republication before ingestion. State data that does not permit this is not used.
Third-party databases are not reproduced
EWG Tap Water Database, WQA member directory, and NSF certified product datasets are commercially or nonprofit-licensed. We do not reproduce or scrape these without explicit written permission.
Our original content is protected by copyright
The summaries, FAQs, editorial framing, and original analysis published on this site are original creative works protected by copyright. They are not in the public domain.
Permitted and Restricted Uses
The following describes uses we expressly permit and uses we do not permit. Permitted uses constitute a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license for those specific purposes only.
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 clear attribution (e.g., "According to Water Utility Report...") are permitted. Attribution must appear in close proximity to the quoted content.
Reproduce short excerpts for journalistic or educational purposes
Short quotations for news reporting, commentary, research, or education are permitted provided attribution is included and the excerpt is not the primary content of a competing work.
Bulk-copy page content for republication
Reproducing our original written content (summaries, FAQs, framing) in bulk is not permitted without a written license agreement. This restriction does not apply to the underlying government data facts.
Automated scraping at scale
Automated access at volume that places material load on our servers or circumvents normal browsing is not permitted. Our robots.txt communicates crawl preferences. If your data needs are research-oriented, the primary sources — EPA SDWIS and ECHO APIs — are publicly available.
Use our original written content in AI training datasets
Our original editorial content (summaries, FAQs, analysis) may not be used in AI training datasets without a written license. The underlying government-sourced data facts are not subject to this restriction, as they are not our original works.
Health & Medical Disclaimer
Nothing on Water Utility Report constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Water quality information is presented for informational and educational purposes only. You should not rely on this site as a substitute for professional medical or environmental health advice.
- A contaminant detected at or below the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) is a regulatory compliance determination, not a guarantee of zero health risk. MCLs are set by balancing known health effects against technical and economic treatment feasibility.
- For several contaminants — including lead, arsenic, and certain PFAS compounds — the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) is set at zero, meaning no level is considered risk-free. The enforceable MCL is set higher than zero for these contaminants due to feasibility constraints. Water that complies with the MCL may still carry measurable risk for some individuals.
- Sensitive populations — including infants, young children, pregnant individuals, and immunocompromised individuals — may face greater risk from certain contaminants than the general adult population for which many MCLs were calibrated.
- We do not recommend specific medical tests, treatments, or interventions. For health concerns related to water quality, consult a licensed healthcare provider.
- For formal water testing required for legal, regulatory, or real estate purposes, use a state-certified laboratory. This site does not provide certified testing or analysis.
Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Water Utility Report and its operators shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or reliance on this site, including but not limited to:
- Inaccuracies, errors, or omissions in data sourced from EPA, state agencies, or other third parties
- Delays in data updates, including violations that have been resolved or newly issued after our last sync
- Actions taken or not taken based on information presented on this site
- Interruptions in site availability or data access
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law.
Service Area Accuracy
ZIP code–to–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 do not align exactly
A single ZIP code may span multiple utility service areas, and one utility may serve portions of many ZIPs. We display the primary match (highest estimated overlap) but flag ambiguous cases.
Service area boundary data is often unavailable or outdated
Many utilities have not published GIS-formatted service area boundaries. Where boundaries are unavailable, we model from available administrative data and note match confidence. Lower-confidence matches are labeled accordingly.
Your water bill is the authoritative source
For definitive confirmation of your water provider, check your water bill, contact your municipality directly, or use your utility's own service area lookup if available.
Governing Law
These terms and any disputes arising from use of this site are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any claims not subject to arbitration shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Delaware.
Legal Inquiries, Licensing & Corrections
For licensing inquiries, data use questions, factual correction requests, or copyright notices (including DMCA takedown requests under 17 U.S.C. § 512), please contact us at legal@waterutilityreport.com. We aim to respond to factual correction requests within 5 business days.
DMCA notices must include all elements required under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3), including identification of the allegedly infringing content and a statement of good faith belief.