Sources & methods
Where our water information comes from
Water information is scattered across government agencies and utilities. We bring it together so you can understand your drinking water and the waters nearby, see when each result was measured, and check the original source.
About Water Around
Water Around is an independent guide to public water information. We are not a government agency or a water utility. For official water restrictions, notices or advice about your supply, follow the links to the responsible agency or utility.
Why some places have more detail than others
Detailed local pages
These pages have enough reliable information to explain a place, water provider or body of water, with sources and dates you can check.
Pages with limited information
Some pages show only a few measurements or details about one site. You can explore them here, but we keep them out of search engines until there is enough useful information.
Places we cannot describe yet
Knowing that a river, well or water system exists does not mean we have enough information to give it a useful page.
Supporting information
Some measurements help us connect or check the information on a page without needing a separate page of their own.
How to read the results
What a map can tell you
A river or well on a map tells you where it is, not its condition today. We link water providers, sources and watersheds only when the source information supports that connection.
Check the place and date
Each measurement belongs to a particular site and date. A test at one site cannot describe an entire river or aquifer, or the water coming out of your tap.
Our main sources
What these results cannot tell you
“Not detected” means a substance was below the test’s reporting limit, not necessarily absent. A system-wide test does not describe every home. Gauges and wells measure their own locations. When information is missing, we say so rather than assume the water is in good or poor condition.
Search privacy
Search does not require an account. Water Around does not permanently store address queries. Address lookup may send your query to the configured geocoding provider; avoid including names or other personal information.
Your address stays out of the overview page’s URL and browser storage. Reloading that page clears your selection. If you open or share a map, its URL can include the location’s coordinates. We do not send search text to analytics. Address-lookup providers receive your search and have their own retention policies.
Website analytics
On wateraround.me, we use Google Analytics to understand which types of pages and features people use. We send broad page categories and actions, such as opening the atlas or completing an address search. We do not send search text, addresses, coordinates, entity names, full page URLs or referring URLs to analytics. Automatic form, search and link tracking is disabled.
Google Analytics uses browser identifiers and cookies, which we limit to 90 days, and receives technical information such as browser type and IP address as part of the connection. This is pseudonymous usage measurement, not a record of your water conditions. Advertising signals and personalization are disabled. Analytics does not load when your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, or when you opt out below. Blocking analytics does not affect the site.
Learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
How recent is the information?
The measurement date tells you when a result applies. The last-checked date tells you when Water Around checked the source. Those dates can differ. A website update alone does not make a measurement new, and we do not guess missing dates.
We flag older information after 3 days for streamflow; 7 for rainfall, reservoirs and restrictions; 14 for drought; 30 for groundwater indicators; 120 for violation records; 365 for water samples; 730 for supply information; and 1,095 for water assessments. A recent result also needs a recorded check date before we label it recent. Older measurements can still help you understand what happened at the time.