Terms of use

Who operates this site

Tapcensus is an independent project. "We" and "us" in these terms mean its operator.

What this site is, and is not

The site turns the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's public drinking water compliance records into a page for every state, county, public water system, and regulated contaminant in the United States. It is provided free of charge, for general information.

It is not:

• official notice from EPA, a state drinking water program, or a water system;
• a measurement of the water at your tap, or a substitute for testing by a certified laboratory;
• a substitute for your water system's annual Consumer Confidence Report, which contains measured contaminant levels;
• medical, health, or safety advice. If you have a health concern about your water, speak to a medical professional or to your state drinking water program.

Do not rely on this site as your only source for a decision about health or safety. Confirm with the sources above first.

Where the data comes from, and its limits

All compliance records come from EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online system (ECHO), which publishes the federal Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). Geographic data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. We show each state's retrieval date on every page and do not change EPA's terms or values.

EPA itself states that ECHO reflects what water systems and states report, appears with a lag of several months, and contains known inaccuracies and underreporting. A system shown with no violations has no violations reported to EPA in the period shown; it may still have local notices, pending actions, or newer results that have not reached EPA. A system shown with violations has violations as recorded by EPA, many of which are monitoring or reporting lapses rather than contamination. Where the site matches a ZIP code, town, or address to water systems, the match is by county and may not identify the system that actually serves a given address.

Our plain-language descriptions of contaminants and rules are summaries of EPA's published material, linked from each page. They are not exhaustive and are not an assessment of any particular water supply.

No warranty, and limits on our liability

The site and everything on it are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee that the site will be available or error-free, or that errors will be corrected.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage of any kind arising from your use of, or inability to use, the site or its content, including loss arising from reliance on any information here, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise. Where liability cannot be excluded by law, it is limited to the extent the law allows.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud, or any right you have as a consumer under mandatory law in your country of residence.

Not affiliated with EPA or the Census Bureau

This is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, operated by, or endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Census Bureau, or any state agency or water system. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Using the content

The underlying EPA and Census data are works of the United States Government and in the public domain. You may use them freely; the authoritative source is EPA ECHO.

The text we wrote, including the contaminant descriptions and the glossary, is ours. You may quote it with a link to the page it came from, and you may link to any page of this site. You may not present this site's content as official, as your own, or in a way that suggests we endorse you.

Automated access is fine for search engines and for reasonable, rate-limited use. For bulk data, use EPA ECHO's downloads rather than crawling this site. We may block traffic that degrades the service for others.

Links to other sites

Pages link to EPA, the Census Bureau, state programs, and other sites we do not control. We are not responsible for their content or practices.

Reporting an error

If you believe a page misstates EPA's record, or that EPA's record is itself wrong, tell us at hello@tapcensus.com with the page address and what you believe is wrong. We check against the current EPA record and correct or annotate the page, usually within a few days. If the error is in EPA's data, we will point you to EPA's and your state program's correction process, and the retrieval date on the page shows when the record was last refreshed. Water systems are welcome to send context about a violation; we may add it to the page, attributed to the system.

Acceptable use

Do not use the site to break the law, to harass anyone, to misrepresent what EPA's records say, or to interfere with the service. Do not attempt to identify individuals from any data here.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. The date at the top shows the latest version, and continued use after a change means you accept it.

Governing law and venue

These terms are governed by the laws of Finland, excluding its conflict-of-law rules. Disputes are heard by the District Court of Helsinki (Helsingin käräjäoikeus) as the court of first instance. If you are a consumer, nothing in this section removes the protection of mandatory consumer law in your country of residence or your right to bring proceedings in its courts, or, in Finland, before the Consumer Disputes Board.

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.

Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@tapcensus.com.