Blog
Stories and findings from LA's community microplastic water testing project.
On April 2, 2026, the EPA added microplastics to its drinking water contaminant list for the first time. The same day, HHS committed $144 million to studying plastic in our bodies. Here's what happened, what the science says, and what you can do.
Read more →We bought Dasani, Liquid Death, Fiji, Evian, Crystal Geyser, San Pellegrino, and Path from a grocery store in LA. Every single one had microplastics. The aluminum cans were just as bad as the plastic bottles.
Read more →A 2022 peer-reviewed paper by Leonard et al. described a fluorescence imaging method for detecting microplastics down to 10 microns using a smartphone camera. We adapted that published protocol for our at-home kit.
Read more →Most LA homes were re-piped with PEX — a plastic pipe. Chlorine in the water degrades it, and the pipe sheds microplastic particles directly into your tap. Here's what a licensed plumber and our data are telling us.
Read more →Fluorescence microscopy results from 20+ residential tap water samples across West LA neighborhoods. Every sample contained microplastics.
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