Environmental exposures

Understanding your environmental exposures

Where you live, and where you grew up, can affect your health. Air, water, and nearby industrial sites can all play a role. The free public tools below can help you learn about possible environmental concerns in a specific area. Bring what you find to your next visit, and we can talk through what it may mean for you.

Before you start: These tools show pollution sources and test results in an area. They do not measure what you personally were exposed to, and they cannot diagnose a health condition. Please don’t make health decisions based on these results alone. Talk with your care team first.

Where you live now

Your drinking water: EWG Tap Water Database

ewg.org/tapwater

Enter your ZIP code to see contaminants found in your local water utility’s testing. This tool is run by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit, not the government. EWG uses its own health guidelines, which are stricter than federal legal limits. If your water “exceeds EWG guidelines,” that does not necessarily mean it breaks federal law or is unsafe to drink. This tool covers public water systems only. If you use a private well, ask us about well testing.

Your local lakes, rivers, and streams: EPA How’s My Waterway

mywaterway.epa.gov

Enter your ZIP code or town to see whether nearby waterways are listed as polluted, unpolluted, or not yet assessed. This is helpful if you swim, fish, or eat locally caught fish.

Your air today: AirNow

airnow.gov

Enter your ZIP code for current air quality and the forecast. This is especially useful if you have asthma, COPD, heart disease, or are sensitive to wildfire smoke. It shows recent conditions only, not past years.

Where you grew up or used to live

Industrial chemical releases: EPA TRI Toxics Tracker

epa.gov/tri/toxicstracker

Search a location to see which industrial facilities nearby have reported releasing toxic chemicals into the air, water, or land, and which chemicals they released. Note: this tool covers roughly the last 10 years, so it may not show facilities that closed long ago.

Hazardous waste cleanup sites: EPA Superfund Site Search

epa.gov/superfund/search-superfund-sites-where-you-live

Look up seriously contaminated sites near a past or current home, including sites that have already been cleaned up and removed from the list. This can help you identify older contamination near where you grew up.

What to do with what you find

Write down any facilities, sites, or contaminants that concern you, along with the years you lived in that area.
Bring your notes to your next appointment. Current patients can send a message through the patient portal; new patients can book a free discovery call.
Please don’t stop medications, change treatments, or buy testing or filtration products based only on these results without talking with us first.

Looking for practical next steps at home? See the cleaner living resources, the free mold & toxin checklist, or your state’s home health guide: Arizona, Montana or Washington.

Apollo Health Clinic provides these links for educational purposes only. We do not run these websites and are not responsible for their content or accuracy. These tools are not a substitute for medical advice.

Free discovery call

Want help making sense of what you found?

Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. Madeira. We’ll start with your why: what you want your health and life to look like, what’s been getting in the way, and whether working together feels right for you.

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