Legal

1.Medical disclaimer

"This tool aggregates municipal engineering data and hardware certifications. It does not diagnose exposure risks, predict toxicological outcomes, or offer medical advice."

WaterQualityLens reports measurements taken by regulated public water utilities and submitted to EPA SDWIS, alongside certification data published by NSF International. These are engineering and regulatory records — they describe what a utility detected at a monitoring point and whether a product has been tested to reduce a given contaminant. They do not describe what you as an individual have been exposed to, at what dose, or with what physiological effect.

If you have questions about health effects related to drinking-water exposure, consult a licensed physician or toxicologist. No content on this site constitutes medical advice, a diagnosis, or a recommendation to alter medical treatment.

2.Plumbing-limitation disclaimer

"Utility data is aggregated at the water-system level and cannot account for plumbing-specific contamination such as legacy household lead service lines. A point-of-use lab test is the only way to verify contamination introduced by your home's plumbing."

EPA-regulated utilities take water samples at distribution-system monitoring points that they select in accordance with regulatory requirements. These points represent the condition of water as it leaves the treatment plant and travels through the utility-owned distribution main — not as it arrives at your tap after passing through your building's internal plumbing.

Homes built before 1986 are particularly likely to have lead service lines, lead solder at pipe joints, or lead-brass fittings that can leach lead into water after it leaves the utility main. The utility's reported lead level will not capture this contribution. If your home predates 1986 or if you have any reason to suspect your internal plumbing introduces contaminants, a certified laboratory test taken directly from your tap — such as a Tap Score test — is the only way to know your actual point-of-use levels.

3.Mapping-confidence disclaimer

"The supplying utility for this address was resolved using a modeled radius (low confidence). Confirm the utility name printed on your water bill, and consider a physical Tap Score lab test for absolute certainty."

This disclaimer appears on results and utility profiles for addresses resolved at Tier 3 — Modeled Radius (confidence 0.50). See Methodology §1 for a full explanation of the three confidence tiers.

A Tier 3 match means that no GIS boundary polygon or county proxy was available for the supplied address. The serving utility was estimated by identifying the nearest known public water system and drawing a modeled radius around its intake point. This is a best-effort estimate — the reported utility may not be the one that actually supplies that parcel. We always surface this uncertainty explicitly on the results page and in the utility profile. Before purchasing filtration hardware based on a Tier 3 result, confirm the utility name on your water bill and consider ordering a certified lab test.

4.Affiliate / FTC disclosure

"Recommended hardware links are affiliate placements. Products are surfaced solely because they hold independently verified NSF/ANSI health certifications for the detected contaminants; commercial rankings never override objective scientific data."

Some links to filter products on this site use affiliate tracking. If you click through and make a purchase, WaterQualityLens may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. This is disclosed in accordance with FTC guidelines (16 C.F.R. Part 255).

The "Verified Partner" badge shown on filter cards in the /results carousel and the /registry means that the product holds independently verified NSF/ANSI health certifications that cover the detected contaminants in your report — not that it is a "sponsored placement" or that any fee was paid for that designation. A product that does not hold the relevant certification for your water's detected contaminants will not appear in recommendations regardless of commercial relationship.

Filter recommendations are ranked by certification match, then dwelling/form-factor fit, then price. Affiliate relationships never alter this order. A product that holds a certification for your contaminants but costs more than an equally certified alternative will always appear after that alternative.

5.Terms of use

WaterQualityLens is provided as an informational tool, on an as-is basis, without warranties of any kind. It is not professional advice, legal advice, or medical advice. You should not rely solely on this tool to make any consequential decision — particularly for addresses resolved at Tier 3 mapping confidence or for pre-1986 buildings where internal plumbing may introduce contaminants not captured by utility monitoring data.

We make every reasonable effort to ensure that the underlying data is accurate and current, but we cannot guarantee that EPA SDWIS or NSF certification data is free of errors, delays, or omissions. For any decision that carries significant personal or financial consequence, verify independently: check your water bill, contact your utility, or order a certified lab test.

6.Privacy

The core water-quality lookup is anonymous by default. No account is required to use the tool. An address you enter is used only to resolve the serving water utility — it is processed in memory for the duration of the request and is not stored, logged to a persistent database, associated with any identifier, or sold to third parties.

Standard server access logs (IP address, timestamp, path) may be retained for a limited period for security and operational purposes. No personally identifiable information is combined with address lookup data.