Water quality tips and insights

Hard water doesn't break anything overnight. It just quietly shortens the life of everything it touches.

The nation's civil engineers just re-graded U.S. drinking water infrastructure. It hasn't improved in four years.

Northern Virginia, DC, and suburban Maryland don't all draw from the same source, and that changes what's actually in your water.

Private wells in Virginia and Maryland tap into different geology than the rivers that feed municipal systems, and that brings a different set of issues.

That faint pool smell isn't your imagination, and it's actually a sign the disinfection process is doing its job.

In April 2024, the EPA set the first-ever national limits on PFAS in drinking water. Here's what actually changed.

The EPA finalized a rule requiring virtually every lead pipe in the country to come out within 10 years. Here's the timeline.

DC Water estimates more than 42,000 service lines in the District still contain lead or galvanized pipe. Here's the program working to replace them.

Every major DMV utility reports its water as moderately hard to hard, but the exact number depends on which system serves you.