The water on a property you are buying
You can have a house inspected for almost anything before you close — but not the water, which is not yours to sample yet. So this reads the public record for the system that serves that address and tells you what it says, what it does not say, and what to ask.
$49 · Emailed within one business day. Refunded if it is wrong, or simply not useful.
- One business day
- Emailed as a PDF, in time to act on.
- Written for a decision
- Not a data dump. What it changes, if anything.
- Refunded if it is wrong
- Or simply not useful to you.
Which place is the report for?
We write from your water system’s own published record, so we need to know which system that is before you pay.
Not sure which system serves you? Pick your city — the report names the system that actually serves the address, and says so when more than one appears in the public record.
Which report do I need?
Three options, one of them free. The $49 column is honest about how little separates it from the $29 today — that difference is who it is written for and when it arrives, and we would rather show you that than dress it up.
Every number your utility published
Your free city pageYes — the full contaminant table for your system, free, no sign-up, no email.The Water ReportThe same numbers, and then the part the table cannot do: which two or three of them actually warrant a decision.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.How your levels compare to the EPA limit
Your free city pageYes — each result against its enforceable limit and its health goal.The Water ReportWhat the gap between those two numbers means, per contaminant. A goal of zero is not a limit being exceeded, and nothing free explains that.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.Permission to ignore the rest
Your free city pageNo. The page lists everything it holds, and leaves the triage to you.The Water ReportThe findings that do not matter are named as a group and explicitly dismissed. Deciding what to ignore is most of the value.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.What was never sampled
Your free city pageNo. An analyte nobody tested for looks identical to a clean result.The Water ReportStated as an absence — plus which system actually serves your address, and where a figure is a system-wide average rather than your own tap.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.Direction of travel
Your free city pageThe latest published reading.The Water ReportThe multi-year series wherever the system publishes one — and a plain statement when there is only one reading, rather than a trend drawn through a single point.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.What to test at your own tap
Your free city pageGeneral guidance on water testing.The Water ReportWhich test, why that one, roughly what it costs, and what a result would change — including when the honest answer is that you need no test at all.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.What to install
Your free city pageFilter picks for your area.The Water ReportTreatment matched to your findings, named by the NSF/ANSI standard that covers them, with a price band — and what would be overkill, including when nothing is the right answer.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.Where every figure came from
Your free city pageOur sitewide data-sources page.The Water ReportEvery figure in your report, its source, and the date we read it.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.Who stands behind it
Your free city pageAssembled automatically from the published data.The Water ReportTapWaterData, against a documented method: every figure checked against its source and dated. If anything is wrong, or it simply was not useful, reply to the email and we refund you in full.The Property Water ReportEverything in the Water Report.Who it is written for
Your free city pageAnyone checking their own water.The Water ReportYou, where you live.The Property Water ReportA property you are buying, before you commit.When it arrives
Your free city pageInstantly — the city page is already published.The Water ReportEmailed to you the same day.The Property Water ReportEmailed within one business day.
Made for people assessing a property
- You have an accepted offer and a closing date, and the inspection covers everything in the house except the water.
- You are buying in an area you do not know, and cannot tell whether what you have read about the local water is a real concern or background noise.
- The listing says “municipal water” and you would like to know which system that actually is, and what it has reported.
- You are weighing whether to raise the water at all in negotiation, and would rather know what the record says before you do.
- You are buying a rental or a second home you will not live in, so testing the tap yourself is not an option.
If none of them is you — if you already live there — the Water Report covers the same ground for $29, and the free city page may be all you need. We would rather say that here than take $49 and tell you afterwards.
What is in it, section by section
Eight sections, the same eight the Water Report delivers — read for a property you are buying rather than one you live in. This is what you receive today.
Your water in one sentence — the honest headline, not a score out of 100
Which findings actually warrant a decision — and, plainly, which ones we are telling you to ignore
Each of those explained: the level, the enforceable limit, the health goal, and what the gap between the two actually means
What the data does not tell you — what was never sampled, which system really serves the address, and where a system-wide figure is not the tap in that building
Direction of travel across every year the system publishes — and a plain statement when there is only one reading, rather than a trend drawn through one point
The system's compliance history: how many enforceable federal limits it has exceeded, when the most recent was, and how many are still unresolved
Hardness, the band it falls in, and what softening it would cost installed — a recurring cost to put in your sums, not a health finding
What to test at the property's own tap, roughly what it costs, and when the honest answer is that you need no test at all
What to install, named by the NSF/ANSI standard that covers it and a price band — plus what would be overkill, and when nothing is the right answer
The questions worth putting to the seller, the agent and the utility before you close — each one a gap this report could not fill from published data, asked while you still have leverage
Every figure with its source and the date we read it
Not included yet: what the property report will add
These sections are not in the report today and you are not paying for them. They are what we intend to add, listed here with the data each would come from so you can judge whether we are likely to manage it — and so that you can hold us to it. When they land, this page will say so and the list above will grow.
Lead: service line risk and what the system reports
Lead comes overwhelmingly from the service line and the building's own pipes, which is the part a system-wide figure cannot see.
Would come from the EPA's lead and copper sampling records.
Boil-water advisory history
How often the tap has actually been unusable is a question no annual report answers.
Would come from our own advisory archive.
Read a real one before you buy
This is the Property Water Report we wrote for Clifton Park, NY, published in full — a real address on a real water system, not a mock-up. It is the document a buyer receives: the same 11 sections listed above, and every figure in it carries the source it came from and the date we read it, so you can check any of it against that system’s own published record. The list marked not included yet is still not in it.
Page 1 · Your water, in one sentence 
Page 5 · Compliance history, and what hardness costs 
Page 7 · What to ask before you close
What this is not
- It is not a laboratory test of the water at that property’s tap, and it cannot be — the water is not yours to sample yet. It reads what the water system published.
- It cannot see that building’s plumbing. Lead comes overwhelmingly from the service line and internal pipes; a clean system-wide record says little about a house built before 1986.
- It is not a survey, a warranty, or a substitute for one. It does not inspect the building and it is not a legal document.
- It will sometimes tell you there is nothing here worth worrying about, and that is a real outcome we will not dress up to justify the fee.
Before you buy
- How long does it take?
- One business day. You will have it by email as a PDF. If you are closing sooner than that, say so when you order and we will tell you honestly whether we can make it — we would rather refuse than miss a date you are making a decision against.
- Is it specific to the exact property?
- It is specific to the water system that serves that address, which is not quite the same thing. The system's published record is the same for every house on the street; what the report does is establish which system that is — the public record is inconsistent often enough that this matters — and read its record against the decision you are making. It cannot see the plumbing inside the building.
- What data is it based on?
- The water system's own published results, plus the EPA's national records for the limits and health goals those results are measured against. Every figure carries its source and the date we read it, so you can check any of it yourself, and so can a surveyor or a solicitor.
- What if something cannot be assessed?
- We say so, by name. An analyte nobody sampled for is not a clean result, and the report states absences as absences rather than leaving them to look like zeroes. If the honest answer to your question is that the public record does not contain it, that is what the report will tell you — and if that makes the report not worth what you paid, reply to the email and we refund you.
- Is this a test of the water at the tap?
- No, and it cannot be — the water is not yours to sample yet. This reads what the water system has published. A tap test is the right next step for some buyers and not for others, and the report says which, why, and roughly what it costs, including when the honest answer is that no test is needed.
- How is it different from the $29 Water Report?
- Three sections the Water Report does not have. The system's compliance history — how many enforceable federal limits it has exceeded, when the most recent was, and how many are still unresolved. Hardness, the band it falls in and what softening it would cost installed, because that is a recurring cost you are about to inherit. And the questions worth putting to the seller, the agent and the utility before you close, each one a gap the published data could not fill. Everything the Water Report covers is in it too. If you already live at the address, buy the Water Report instead — it covers the same water for less.
- Can I get a refund?
- Yes. If anything in it is wrong, or it simply was not useful, reply to the email and we refund you in full. We would rather refund you than have you act on something we got wrong at the point where you are committing to a house.
- The seller says the water is fine — does this disagree with them?
- Usually it agrees with them, and that is a real outcome we will not dress up. For most systems the record shows nothing a buyer needs to act on, and the report says so plainly rather than manufacturing a concern to justify the fee. Where it does disagree, it disagrees with a citation and a date rather than an impression.
Ready when you are
Give us the address’s city and we will have it with you within one business day. If the record turns out to hold nothing worth telling you, we will say that — and refund you.
Which place is the report for?
We write from your water system’s own published record, so we need to know which system that is before you pay.
Not sure which system serves you? Pick your city — the report names the system that actually serves the address, and says so when more than one appears in the public record.
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