Jessica is a respected contributor to the Sampling America writing team, eloquently sharing tales of adventures across the country and beyond.
Recently, the news has broken that almost 50% of the tap water in the United States contains PFAS, a chemical substance that largely comes from non-stick coatings like the ones on the pans many people use for cooking. Frequent ingestion of these substances can potentially cause things like cancer, thyroid disease, and birth problems in newborns.
The details are still emerging about what this means and what we can do about it, but in the meantime, there is one thing on everyone’s mind: how safe is your tap water?
If you’re in one of the following five states, you might have less to worry about.
New Hampshire
According to WaterDefense.org, New Hampshire takes fifth place for the cleanest tap water as of 2023. Unlike some other states on this list that get pure water from natural sources, New Hampshire’s water is clean thanks to the filtration process used to purify it.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services also limited the sale and use of products containing PFAS and other harmful chemicals even before the rest of the country started focusing on PFAS, so this is one state that is ahead of the game.
Minnesota
Minnesotans have some of the cleanest drinking water in the country thanks to their abundance of natural water resources. The Minnesota Department of Health is also well-funded and supported by the government because clean, healthy, drinkable water is a big priority in the North Star State.
South Dakota
When you think “clean water,” you should definitely think about South Dakota. This state has won the Secretary’s Award for Drinking Water Excellence every year for the past 18 years, and 95 percent of the state’s citizens have access to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved drinking water, which is above the average in many other states.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts worked hard to earn its spot on this list. This state did not start off with clean water from natural sources, but has instead always worked hard on its filtering and regulation processes to ensure that its drinking water meets EPA standards.
Water must also meet the even higher standards of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which makes sure to always keep residents in the loop about potential water contamination issues and to fix them quickly.
Oregon
Oregon has a lot of things going for it that make maintaining a clean water supply easy. For starters, it gets its H2O from one of the cleanest natural water sources in America, the Bull Run Watershed. It also does a fantastic job at fighting to keep contaminants from artificial substances out of the water, and the state itself is also one of the least polluted in the country. So pour yourself a nice, cold glass of great water, Oregon: you earned it!
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