About Washington State Water Quality

The primary provider of water to Washington residents is underground aquifers and wells. Cities and municipalities within Washington State water gets the majority of their water from each city's local water treatment facility. These facilities source their water from underground aquifers, rivers, creeks, and watersheds. All water treatment departments within Washington State treats this water so that it can be used for human consumption (pottable) according to guidelines set forth by the EPA.

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit, non-partisan organization advocating for water quality and human safety has collected and tested samples from each of Washington's water departments, treatment and distribution centers. That report for each specific water utility can be found by entering the zip-code for that city here: www.ewg.org/tapwater

Unfortunately no matter what kind of treatment process is used by water departments for treating public ground water, it is never 100% free of contaminants. This is due to the lack of technology to be able to effectively serve such a large scale of population, due to distribution network integrity, and condition of a home's piping and water-bearing equipment.