Nevada among Top 10 states with the cleanest tap water

The states with the cleanest tap water

Kentucky has the cleanest tap water in the contiguous United States, reporting just 22.16 public water system violations per one million residents throughout 2022.
Nevada and Maryland come ninth and tenth respectively, with 49.09 and 51.75 violations per one million residents.
Montana was found to have the least clean tap water, with the equivalent of 724.04 violations per one million residents in 2022.

Nevada has the ninth cleanest tap water in the contiguous United States, according to a new report analyzing public water system violations.

Health information website Great Green Wall Health analyzed data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to find each of the 48 contiguous states’ total number of public water system (PWS) violations throughout 2022.

The number of PWS violations was then calculated as a proportion of one million residents, to give a fairer overview of which contiguous states offer the cleanest tap water.

In first place is Kentucky which saw just 100 total PWS violations during 2022, the equivalent of 22.16 violations per one million residents. A violation is defined as a breach of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements.

Kentucky officials recently however, had to ease concerns over water contamination due to the spill of hazardous materials from the East Palestine train derailment in neighboring state Ohio, on February 3, 2023.

California is in second place, with 1,079 PWS violations in 2022, which translates to 27.65 violations per one million residents given its larger population.

South Carolina is in third place, with 160 total PWS violations in 2022, equal to 30.29 per one million residents. Despite being one of the states with fewer violations, State Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a lawsuit as recently as August 2023 against several companies, including DuPont and 3M, related to PFAS, also known as the forever chemical, being in public water systems.

In fourth and fifth place are Minnesota and Nebraska, which had 36.56 and 39.64 PWS violations per one million residents respectively.

In sixth place is Alabama, with 202 total PWS violations in 2022, (39.81 violations per one million residents) while Massachusetts, ranked seventh with 288 PWS violations (41.25 violations per one million residents.)

Tennessee and Nevada are in eighth and ninth place, with 42.69 and 49.09 PWS violations per one million residents respectively.

In tenth place is Maryland, with 319 total violations in 2022, and 51.75 PWS violations per one million residents.

Montana was found to have the least clean tap water of all the contiguous states, with a total of 813 PWS violations in 2022, which when extrapolated is the equivalent of 724.04 violations per one million residents.

A spokesperson for Great Green Wall Health commented on the findings:

“In the last decade or so, Americans have had to contend with the water crisis of Flint, Michigan, which has brought the issue of clean tap water to the forefront of conversation. Therefore, it is may come as no surprise that Michigan ranks relatively low given that these issues are still being addressed.

“What is more surprising, is that there are 10 states below Michigan that have not been in the media spotlight for the number of PWS violations they have received.”

Contiguous states ranked from least to most public water system (PWS) violations (2022)