A recent report by the Izaak Walton League of America rated how each state monitors its water quality–and the results aren’t good.

Over half the states received D or F grades including New York, North Carolina, and Michigan. Virginia did the best receiving a grade of a B. Other states such as California received a C+, while Florida received a B-.

Each state was judged by 6 categories: water quality standards, frequency of sampling, transparency, age of data, site-specific information, and volunteer engagement.

To see how your state did, click here.

With every state showing room for improvement regarding transparency, it’s more important that you don’t guess what your water quality is. Many states (such as North Carolina, for example) tested positive for contaminants such as mercury, toxic metals, and PCBs (a probable carcinogen).

FiltersFast.com offers many water test kits, such as the Complete Home Water Quality Test Kit, to help identify the issues in your household water quality so you will know how to correctly treat your water.

You should also be aware that every community water supplier must provide an annual report (the Consumer Confidence report) to its customers. This report will provide information on your local drinking water quality, contaminants found in the water, and more. To find your CCR, click here.

In addition to testing your water, make sure you are regularly replacing your refrigerator water filter. They should be replaced every 6 months.

Ranging from whole home filters to reverse osmosis filters, we have many different filtration options for you, your family, or business.

Though the grades given to many states by the Izaak Walton League of America are troublesome, there is a silver lining: filtration. Water filters act as a last line of defense between you and over 1,000 known contaminants. Don’t be left without it.