I've been seeing DC Water vans everywhere lately. Same message every time — ditch the plastic, drink tap.
I get it. They're trying. They're out here replacing lead pipes, closing off roads, doing the work. But here's the thing — nobody's letting them in.
Not because people don't care about clean water. Because nobody told them how bad it is getting. And when you don't know the urgency, a closed road and a construction crew feels like an inconvenience.
That's the gap. Not the pipes. The information.
People don't know what's in their water. They don't know what's in their walls. And the platforms that exist weren't built for someone who just wants to understand — not file a report or attend a city council meeting.
That's what Purcell Water is fixing. Starting here in DC.
Purcell Water collects data from residents and homeowners that municipalities like DC Water can't get on their own. People don't trust the government enough to share it directly, and most don't even know enough about their water to care yet.
We build the bridge — platforms that actually speak to regular people, turn their information into infrastructure intelligence, and get it to the people who can do something about it.
What's actually happening with lead pipes in DC, and why residents aren't opening their doors.
Read →A resident-facing data collection app that translates water concern into actionable municipal intelligence.
Explore →How another city's water crisis became a model for what community-driven data infrastructure can do.
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