How Levee Line Sources Its Numbers
Levee Line sources its numbers from the documents that produce them: each supplier's annual water quality report first, then state and federal rules, maker manuals and certifiers' listings.
Checked
Reports come first
Every local figure on this site starts in a supplier's Consumer Confidence Report, the annual water quality report California suppliers publish for their customers. Hardness, disinfectant, lead sampling and contaminant results are quoted from the report of the supplier that serves that area, not from a regional average or a third-party database.
Rules come from the agencies that write them: the State Water Resources Control Board, the California Legislature's code pages, the U.S. EPA and local agencies such as the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County. Product statements come from the certifier's listing for the exact model. Anything a store says about its own product is reported as the store's claim.
News stories, forums, review sites and aggregator maps are not used as sources. Where two primary documents disagree, the page names both or quotes the one it links.
How figures are dated
Each local number carries its report year, because reports lag the water by about six months. "The City of Sacramento's 2025 water quality report" means 2025 sampling, published in 2026. Where a supplier's latest report is older, the page says so: West Sacramento's most recent posted report covers 2024.
Units follow the reports: mg/L (ppm) for hardness and minerals, µg/L (ppb) for metals, ng/L (ppt) for PFAS. Hardness is also given in grains per gallon, at 17.1 mg/L to the grain, and rated on the U.S. Geological Survey scale. Rebates and prices are dated to the month they were read.
What is left out
Some figures are left out on purpose. If a report could not be opened, its numbers are not guessed: Elk Grove Water District publishes its own report, and readers are asked to check it. Where a report gives hardness only for each source, no single tap figure is invented. Savings and payback estimates appear only when an agency such as ENERGY STAR or SMUD publishes them.
There are no lab tests, reader stories, ratings or reviews on this site, because none were done or collected.
Corrections
Corrections are made when a supplier publishes a new report or an agency changes a rule. Each summer's reports replace the previous year's figures page by page. If your supplier's current report shows a different number from this site, use the report; it is the source this site follows.
See the about page for what Levee Line is, and how to read a water quality report to check a figure yourself.