Before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970, it was estimated that as much as 40% of the nations’ public water systems failed to meet basic health requirements. In the following decades, the safety of public water systems in the US made major advancements.
Today, more than 90% of Americans have access to drinking water through public water systems, which are regulated at the state and local level according to federal guidelines. As of 2021, about 1% of all public water systems are serious violators, meaning they are accountable for the most severe and persistent violations nationwide.
The enduring number of public water system violations over the last decade indicates that the US still has underlying problems with its drinking water. This stems, in part, from a high rate of monitoring and reporting violations which fail to adequately test water supplies.
