The alert map shows water users when water quality is compromised at a specific location, helping you decide if it’s safe to enter the water. Alerts are based on water company sewage data and regulators’ real-time predictive models, giving accurate risk assessments and clear, up-to-date safety information.

Sewage data, however, is different. It records the operational status of sewage overflows across the country but doesn’t provide enough context to issue alerts for nearby locations. For example, if you swim at a river spot that isn’t a designated location, the sewage map can show you which overflows have discharged, but we can’t issue an alert for that site because there’s no information on its impact. In short: sewage data tells you where sewage has been released, but not whether it affects water quality or poses a risk to health.

That’s why understanding this difference matters. It shows why we need a national sewage alert system—something built for water users’ safety, not just raw public data.