How
The mission of Crowd the Tap is to ensure safe drinking water in the United States through education and empowering people to discover the quality of their tap water from the comfort of home. Follow the steps below to discover the types of pipes delivering water to your tap, and make your home part of the national inventory of water pipe materials! The inventory will help build a model to prioritize areas for tap water testing and infrastructure replacement. Being part of the inventory means being a part of a network of people in your neighborhood and beyond who want to make drinking water safe for all.
Click the JOIN@SciStarter button, and in a new browser window, you will be prompted to login to SciStarter.org (or create a SciStarter account if it is your first time to the site). Data entry and forum discussions take place on the SciStarter.org website. The Crowd the Tap page on SciStarter includes three tabs: Crowd the Tap, Report Data, Forum
Here is what to expect on each of these tabs:
1 – COLLECT DATA: the Crowd the Tap tab on SciStarter provides instructions and a datasheet for collecting data. The most challenging part of Crowd the Tap is finding the correct pipes. See the graphic below for instructions. Once you find the correct pipes, simple magnet and scratch tests will help you identify the pipe material.
2 – REPORT DATA: the Report Data page includes five tabs:
Your Consent: This tab provides you with details of how the research team will handle your data contributions and options you’ll have with regard to your privacy. To participate, you’ll need to agree to the consent document and select your privacy preferences. Anyone under 18 will need parental consent in order to participate.
Your Home: In this tab provide information about your home and household characteristics, including location, type of home, type of water system (well or municipal), and demographic information.
Your Pipes: In this tab provide information about your water pipes. You’ll be prompted to provide information about the type(s) of pipe plumbing in your home. Depending on your water systems, you’ll be prompted to provide information about your service line or well pipe.
Your Water: In this tab share detailed observations about your tap water, such as its appearance, odor, taste, staining, etc.
Your Chemistry: This tab is for entering data from an at-home water test strip and/or data from water samples sent to a laboratory for lead testing. This tab is open to all, but most applicable for teachers and participants associated with our Ambassador program or public libraries in the National Library of Medicine All of Us program.
Watch our videos below for extra help on finding your pipes and completing tabs 1 and 2.
3 – FORUM: The Forum tab is an online space for conversations related to tap water and infrastructure. The Forum is a place where you can ask and answer questions, or get and give help, about finding water pipes and organizing next steps.
There are many different pipes transporting water in and out of the home. Crowd the Tap is interested in pipes that bring water inside the home. To discover the materials of the pipes bringing water inside your home, you will need to find the service line (or well pipe) as well as your home plumbing. Pipes with outbound water are often larger and more visible than pipes bringing water IN to the home. The graph below includes the necessary background on water pipes as part of a municipal water system.
Testing Your Tap Water for Lead
Healthy Babies Bright Futures has a program for testing water for lead. The fee is $65 for the kit to collect tap water samples, laboratory analysis, and shipping. Some subsidies are available to make the fee as low as $12.