Can America Count on Safe, Reliable Drinking Water When It's Needed Most? FloWater CEO Says It's Time to Ask

As aging infrastructure, emerging contaminants, and new pressures such as AI data centers and cyberattacks strain the nation's water systems, FloWater is calling for a broader conversation about whether America's drinking water is both safe and reliably available when it's needed.

DENVER, Colorado, August 25, 2026-- Turn on the tap, fill a bottle, and trust what comes out. It's a small act most Americans never think twice about. FloWater Co-Founder & CEO Rich Razgaitis calls what's happening to that trust a drinking water crisis – not a single failure, but two forces quietly testing the system at once: whether the water is safe and whether it's there at all.

Safety is being tested by age and by what's new. Much of the nation's water infrastructure was built decades ago, long before it had to contend with today's chemical load. About 90 contaminants are currently regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. No federal rule requires schools themselves to test their drinking water for lead, and the rule requiring water systems to sample elementary schools and childcare facilities does not take effect until November 2027. Federal regulators have separately moved to roll back enforceable limits for four PFAS compounds—the "forever chemicals" linked to cancer and other long-term health risks, and to give utilities until 2031 to comply with the limits that remain.

Access is being tested from a different direction. In late July, a coordinated cyberattack disrupted water and wastewater utilities in at least a dozen states, hitting more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota alone and forcing a boil-water advisory for 300,000 customers in Clayton County, Georgia. The FBI and the EPA issued a joint public warning on July 30. At the same time, a new wave of AI data centers and large manufacturing plants is placing rising demand on local water supplies.

"For years, Americans have prepared for the next storm, the next outage, the next disruption," underscores Razgaitis. "It's time we did the same for water. A system that isn't safe and a system you can't count on are both the same kind of failure—we just don't talk about them that way yet.

"Cybersecurity used to be a conversation for banks and hospitals," he said. "It's a water conversation now, too."

The FloWater CEO is calling this what it is: a crisis and a question the country hasn't asked out loud. Are we protecting drinking water with the same seriousness we protect the power grid, the food supply, or the internet? "Every generation inherits critical infrastructure," he said. "Ours is the one that decides whether the next can still trust what comes out of the tap."

Razgaitis says this conversation needs to reach business leaders, public officials, water professionals, and communities that play a role in deciding what comes next. He notes that the EPA's own national testing data, released in March and analyzed by the Environmental Working Group, shows that 176 million Americans drink tap water from systems where PFAS has been detected. “Against that background, it's not surprising that large numbers of Americans distrust the water coming out of their taps,” Razgaitis said.

For more information, please visit drinkflowater.com or contact Shay Trukov at shay.trukov@drinkflowater.com

About FloWater

Incubated in Silicon Valley and based in Denver, FloWater uses 7x Advanced Purification to remove up to 99.9% of toxins including lead, PFAS, and microplastics from tap water, delivering ultra-purified hydration.

Named a World-Changing Idea by Fast Company, FloWater serves over 16,000 clients including Google, Hyatt, and Oakland Unified School District—with sustainable hydration. This year, FloWater won a Gold Stevie® Award in the 23rd annual International Business Awards®, earning the title of Thought Leadership Organization of the Year, Business Services for its work bringing drinking water quality, healthier hydration, sustainability, and access to clean water into the national conversation. Learn more at DrinkFloWater.com.