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epa-drinking-water-quality-screener

Screen US coordinates for the public water system serving them, checking SDWA violations, lead 90th-percentile results, and PFAS detections. Returns NO_SERVICE_AREA instead of a false clear.

Instructions

EPA Drinking Water Quality Screener - Violations, Lead & PFAS. Screen any US coordinate for the public water system serving it: SDWA health-based violations, Lead & Copper Rule 90th-percentile results and UCMR5 PFAS detections - the evidence base behind the LCRI (Nov 1, 2027) and PFAS NPDWR (Apr 26, 2027) deadlines. Never clears a source that did not answer. CHOOSE THIS for public water-system quality: SDWA violations, lead 90th-percentile results and PFAS occurrence. It is NOT a property contamination screen — for soil and groundwater records at a site use epa-contaminated-site-screener. Reads live from the official government source. Call describe-gov-data-tool (free) for a verified example input. COST AND SIDE EFFECTS: read-only with respect to the government source — it never writes to any external system — but each call starts a metered run on YOUR Apify account, billed $0.012 per Drinking water screening result ($12 per 1,000). Lower on paid Apify plans, down to $3.60 per 1,000. Nothing is charged when a run fails. Store page: https://apify.com/malonestar/epa-drinking-water-quality-screener

Input Schema

NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
assetsNoSites to screen, each {"lat": <number>, "lon": <number>, "label": "<your name for the site>"}. Each location is matched against EPA's mapped community water system service areas to identify the serving public water system. A location with no mapped service area returns an explicit NO_SERVICE_AREA row (likely a private well), never a false clear. Example: [{"lat":43.0125,"lon":-83.6875,"label":"Flint MI - lead action level exceedance"},{"lat":40.9793,"lon":-74.1165,"label":"Ridgewood NJ - PFAS detections"},{"lat":39.7392,"lon":-104.9903,"label":"Denver CO - control"}].
pwsidsNoOptional. Screen specific public water systems by 9-character EPA PWSID (for example ["MI0002310"]) without a coordinate lookup. Combined with any locations supplied above. Example: [].
maxAssetsNoSafety cap on how many locations are screened in one run. Locations beyond the cap are reported in the log and not billed. Example: 250.
includeLeadNoFetch Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap results and join them to their monitoring periods, so the reported value is dated rather than undated. Example: true.
includePfasNoScreen the system against EPA's UCMR5 occurrence dataset (1.9 million results, 29 PFAS analytes plus lithium). Turn off for a faster run when PFAS is out of scope. Example: true.
simulateOutageNoDiagnostic seam for verifying failure behaviour. Forces one or all EPA sources to fail so you can confirm the actor reports the source as unavailable and never publishes a false clear. Leave as none for normal use. Example: "none".
violationYearsNoHow many years back counts as a recent health-based violation for the screening flags. The full violation history is still summarised regardless. Set 0 to disable the window. Example: 10.
refreshPfasCacheNoRe-download and re-index the UCMR5 occurrence file even if the cached index already matches EPA's current published vintage. Normally unnecessary: the cache is keyed to the file's Last-Modified header and rebuilds itself whenever EPA republishes. Example: false.
runBudgetSecondsNoTotal time budget for all upstream requests including retries. Requests stop rather than retry past this budget, so a long EPA outage fails loudly instead of hanging. Example: 900.
includeViolationsNoFetch the system's full Safe Drinking Water Act violation history from EPA SDWIS and roll it up (health-based, monitoring/reporting, treatment technique, Lead & Copper Rule, public-notification tier). Example: true.
includeEnforcementNoFetch the system's SDWIS formal enforcement action history and report the count and most recent action. Example: true.
maxViolationDetailsNoHow many individual health-based violation records to include in the health_based_violation_details array on each row, newest first. Counts are never truncated. Example: 25.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. First observedv1.0.2

TDQS

A4.7/5.0
Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Goes well beyond the annotations: discloses per-result metering ($0.012/result, $12 per 1,000, down to $3.60 on paid plans), that failed runs are not charged, the run-budget fail-loud behavior, and the core guarantee that it never publishes a clear for a source that did not answer (NO_SERVICE_AREA instead). The 'read-only with respect to the government source' phrasing is carefully scoped and reconciles with readOnlyHint=false, which reflects the metered run side effect rather than a data write.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with purpose, then routing, then cost — a sensible order. The cost/billing block is longer than strictly necessary and repeats pricing twice, but every part is decision-relevant for an agent and nothing is pure padding.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a 12-parameter, no-output-schema tool the description covers the important behavioral contracts: no-false-clear, billing, budget, and partial return shapes (health_based_violation_details, NO_SERVICE_AREA rows). Return format is only sketched at a high level, but that is the main residual gap.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is already 100%, so baseline is 3, but the description adds real semantics: why includeLead dates results, why includePfas can be disabled for speed, that maxAssets overflow is logged and unbilled, and what simulateOutage is for. It does not restate the schemas so much as explain intent behind the flags.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb (screen) and resource (US coordinate / public water system) and enumerates the exact evidence classes returned: SDWA health-based violations, LCR 90th-percentile lead results, UCMR5 PFAS detections. It explicitly names the sibling it is not (epa-contaminated-site-screener) and the domain boundary, so an agent can route without opening either schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Contains an explicit 'CHOOSE THIS for...' selector plus a 'It is NOT a property contamination screen — for soil and groundwater records at a site use epa-contaminated-site-screener' exclusion with a named alternative. It also routes to describe-gov-data-tool for a free example input.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.