U.S. Water Issues Tracker
Ranked, sourced findings on drinking water, supply, infrastructure, wastewater, flooding, drought, groundwater, watersheds, affordability, utility finances and water rights. Each finding is scored from 0 to 10 on documented evidence only.
Executive summary
Highest-risk findings
Directional picture
Where the findings are
Each state is shaded by its most severe active finding; circles count findings touching the state. Hover for details; click a state for its map.
Grey means no finding in this feed. It does not mean the state has no water problems. Multi-state findings (for example the Colorado River basin) shade every state they touch.
Severity by category
Every active finding, grouped by category and scored 0–10. Categories are ranked separately, never against each other.
What drives each score
The five scoring components, 0–2 each. The more strongly shaded the cell, the more severe the documented evidence.
Primary issue layer
What is mainly causing each problem.
Infrastructure: asset failure or condition. Water Quality/Quantity: contamination or shortage in the water itself. Both: each layer is materially causal. Systemic/Financial: finance, governance, affordability or legal allocation. More
Utility business-model risk
Financial and operational distress signals. Severe includes confirmed default or receivership.
Trend direction
Observed direction for each active finding. This is a baseline run, so many findings have insufficient history.
Ranked findings by category
Ranked within each category by severity score, with the newer source date breaking ties. Categories are not combined into a national rank.
Resolved or stabilized milestones
Recorded for context. These are not ranked as current findings.