Guides
Reading the environmental record
The record states what exists. These explain what it means: the units, the status vocabulary, which standard applies when, and what is worth doing about a finding. No advice a publisher cannot give, and nothing that diagnoses a property.
How to read a PFAS test result
The units are confusing on purpose, the limits moved in 2026, and four of the six federal standards are being withdrawn. Here is what a number on a water report actually means.
7 min read
What a Superfund site near you actually means
Listing, proposed, deleted, construction complete. The federal vocabulary sounds alarming or reassuring in ways that do not always match the ground.
8 min read
Buying a house near a contaminated site
What to read, what to test, what to ask, and where the line is between diligence you can do yourself and work that needs a professional.
7 min read
What a Phase I ESA is, and when you actually need one
The professional standard, what it includes that a database report never can, what it costs, and the specific legal protection it buys.
6 min read
How to test your tap water properly
Which panel to buy, why a standard test will not find PFAS, how to sample without ruining the result, and what the numbers mean when they arrive.
6 min read
Which water filters actually remove PFAS
Two technologies have real evidence, one certification actually means something, and several popular products do nothing for these compounds.
6 min read
Underground storage tanks and what an open release means
There are over 740,000 tank facilities on EPA's national map and hundreds of thousands of recorded releases. Here is how to read one near you.
6 min read
How to read a toxic release report
A facility reporting a million pounds of releases may be less concerning than one reporting a thousand. What TRI measures, and what it does not.
5 min read
How to find out if you have a lead service line
Every US water system had to publish an inventory. Roughly four million lead lines remain, replacement runs $4,700 to $12,000 each, and finding out about yours is free.
6 min read
Private wells: what system testing never covers
About 13 percent of Americans drink from a private well. No federal drinking water rule applies to any of them.
5 min read
What the 2025 and 2026 federal rollbacks changed
Public screening tools were deleted, PFAS standards were partly rescinded, and the greenhouse gas endangerment finding was revoked. What that means for anyone trying to check an address.
6 min read
Environmental due diligence for small commercial buyers
The tiered system professionals use, what each tier costs, and how to sequence it so you do not pay for a Phase I on a deal that dies in week one.
6 min read