NYC · $50 · free shipping
Microplastic test kit for New York City.
NYC's reservoir water is famously clean. The building plumbing between the main and your faucet is the variable nobody tests. The city operates one of the only large unfiltered surface-water systems in the world — the Catskill/Delaware watersheds run cleanly enough that the EPA has granted NYC a Filtration Avoidance Determination. That tells you about the source. It doesn't tell you about the PEX or CPVC riser somebody installed in your building in 2008. The microplastic test kit answers the question for your specific apartment.
What's actually in NYC water (the public data)
NYC's water comes from three watersheds: Catskill (~40% of total supply), Delaware (~50%), and Croton (~10%). The Catskill/Delaware system is unfiltered surface water moving through 125+ miles of aqueducts. The Croton system is filtered at the Croton Water Filtration Plant in the Bronx (operational since 2015).
The NYC Department of Environmental Protection publishes annual reports with thousands of tests on turbidity, chlorine, lead, copper, disinfection byproducts, and microbiological parameters. The water meets every EPA standard. None of those tests look for microplastic particles.
For source-water quality data (lead, contaminants, your utility's annual report broken down), see thewatermap.com — the data side of this project, with searchable utility records.
Where the microplastics likely come from in your apartment
The building's riser. In a tall building, water travels through 20+ stories of vertical pipe before reaching your unit. Any plastic segment (PEX, CPVC, polypropylene) sheds particles continuously, especially on the hot-water side. A 1925 pre-war that hasn't been repiped and a 2014 condo on PEX produce measurably different counts.
The water heater. Most residential water heaters have a plastic dip tube. When the dip tube fails (a documented issue with certain 1990s-era models), large PE fragments enter the hot-water supply. The hot tap is usually the highest-count sample in any apartment.
The fridge dispenser cartridge. Carbon-block cartridges shed fines over their lifespan, especially past the manufacturer's replacement window. A new cartridge usually reduces the particle count. An expired one can add to it.
In-unit installed filters. Brita, PUR, ZeroWater pitchers are NSF-certified for chlorine and select metals — not microplastics. Run the before/after to verify yours. See the filtered-water guide for the protocol.
What to test, if you live in NYC
- 1Cold morning tap, kitchen sink. Your highest-load sample. Overnight stagnation pulls the most off the riser.
- 2Filter output — pitcher, fridge dispenser, faucet mount. The honest A/B. Most filters in NYC apartments are NSF 42 for chlorine; microplastic removal isn't certified.
- 3Bottled water from a corner store. Compare to your tap. NYC tap is usually cleaner than bottled (the reverse of what most people assume).
- 4Hot tap, optional. If your water heater is more than 15 years old, the hot side often shows large PE fragments from a degrading dip tube.
FAQ
Does NYC test its tap water for microplastics?
Not as a routine parameter. NYC DEP publishes an annual Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report that covers EPA-required contaminants — turbidity, lead, copper, disinfection byproducts, microbiology. Microplastics are not on the federal required-monitoring list as of 2026 (the EPA added them to Contaminant Candidate List 6 in April 2026, beginning a multi-year process). NYC's source water itself is among the cleanest in the country, but no agency is measuring particle counts from individual apartments.
Isn't NYC tap water already famously clean?
At the reservoir, yes — exceptionally so. NYC operates one of the largest unfiltered surface-water systems in the world (the Catskill/Delaware watersheds), maintained under a Filtration Avoidance Determination from the EPA, which is granted only to systems with extremely high source-water quality. The Croton system serves about 10% of the city and is filtered. The water arriving at your building's main is genuinely excellent. What happens to it after that depends entirely on the pipes between the main and your faucet.
Where would the microplastics in NYC tap water come from?
Almost certainly the building plumbing. Pre-war buildings (the majority of NYC residential stock) were built with copper or galvanized steel, both of which shed metals but not plastic. Many of these buildings have been partially or fully repiped over the last 30 years with copper, CPVC, or PEX — the latter two are plastic. Shared risers in high-rise buildings concentrate plastic-shed from any plastic segment in the path. Fridge-dispenser cartridges, sink filters, and water heater dip tubes add more.
Does bottled water in NYC test cleaner than tap?
Almost certainly not. NYC's source water is unusually good; bottled water (any brand) carries particles from the PET bottle itself, which dominate the count for most samples. The 2018 Orb Media bottled-water study found microplastics in 93% of bottles tested across 11 brands. If you've switched to bottled because you don't trust NYC tap, run both — the comparison often goes the other way than people expect.
How does the kit get to NYC?
Free USPS shipping anywhere in the US, typically 3–5 days to the East Coast. Two tests per kit — one for your tap, one for your filter output or a bottled brand — for $50 total.
I live in a pre-war building. Does that matter?
Maybe in your favor. If your building still runs the original copper or galvanized risers and only the fixtures have been changed, the microplastic load from plumbing is likely lower than in a newer building or a PEX-repiped one. But you won't know without running the test. We've measured pre-war Manhattan and Brooklyn buildings that came back near-blank, and others (same era, different repipe history) that didn't.