Kentucky is crowned the state with the cleanest tap water (2024)

According to a new report analyzing public water system violations, Kentucky has the cleanest tap water in the contiguous United States.

• Kentucky hasthe cleanest tap water in the contiguous United States, reporting just 22.16 public water system violations per one million residents throughout 2022.
• California and South Carolina come second and third, respectively, with 27.65 and 30.29 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.

Health information websiteGreat Green Wall Healthanalyzed 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 throughout2022.

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 isKentucky,which saw just 100 total PWS violations during 2022, the equivalent of 22.16 violations per one million residents. A violation breaches 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 the neighboring state of Ohio on February 3, 2023.

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

South Carolinais 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 areMinnesotaandNebraska,which had 36.56 and 39.64 PWS violations per one million residents, respectively.

In sixth place isAlabama,with 202 total PWS violations in 2022 (39.81 violations per one million residents), whileMassachusettsranked seventh with288 PWS violations (41.25 violations per one million residents.)

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

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

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

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

Methodology:

Data was taken from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that looked at the total number of public water system (PWS) violations each state recorded in 2022. The number of violations per 1 million residents was then calculated (PWS violations / Population x 1,000,000) to give a fairer overview of which states the cleanest tap water. Population figures were taken from 2022 US Censuspopulation estimates.

Click herefor more Kentucky Business News.