Microplastics are getting into our air, water, food, and even our bodies. These tiny pollutants have now infiltrated every level of the food chain and even our drinking water, meaning we are ingesting nano and microplastics regularly. 

By monitoring for their occurrence, we can obtain the hard data needed to regulate microplastics in our drinking water. This is an essential first step to ensure our drinking water is safe from these ubiquitous contaminants. 

Ultimately, we need policies that stop plastic pollution in the first place by requiring corporations to ditch synthetic packaging and transition to the plastic free, reusable systems. Our planet urgently needs us to move off plastics, but until that happens, we need to keep microplastics out of our drinking water. 

Why We Need to Monitor Microplastics in Our Drinking Water: 

1. For our health

Monitoring microplastics is critical right now because these particles are everywhere, including in our drinking water. By one count, people in the U.S. could be ingesting 4,000 microplastic particles or more through tap water each year. 

Once ingested, microplastics can travel deep within the human body, including to organs like the brain and heart. And this has scary implications for our health. Researchers have linked microplastics on our bodies to cancers, liver damage, reproductive harm, and more. 

2. For government and corporate accountability

Hard data on microplastics occurrence would allow government officials and policymakers to take action to better safeguard our drinking water from plastic pollution. It could also help pinpoint where microplastic pollution is coming from and which industries are the biggest polluters, which could inform more protections for our waterways and our communities.

Why Are We Fighting for the EPA to Do Its Job? (Yes, Even Under This Administration!) 

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, every five years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to develop a nationwide monitoring program for up to 30 currently unregulated contaminants in drinking water. The EPA carries out this responsibility through the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). The EPA just issued its proposal for the sixth cycle of the UCMR, which it is scheduled to finalize by the end of this year. Our demand: Include microplastics in the final monitoring rule. 

In November 2024, Food & Water Watch led a petition with 175 organizations demanding that the EPA monitor for microplastics. We also identified a powerful, underutilized provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act, which states that if seven governors collectively petition the EPA to monitor a new contaminant, the EPA must comply — unless they can show it would prevent monitoring for something else that is a more pressing public health concern. 

Our incredible Stop Microplastics Now! Volunteer Action Team met with governors and staff, gathered thousands of petition signatures, and spread awareness in their communities. 

And in November 2025, seven governors petitioned the EPA to monitor for microplastics! The magic seven governors were: former Governor Murphy from New Jersey, Governor Whitmer from Michigan, Governor Pritzker from Illinois, Governor Lamont from Connecticut, Governor Moore from Maryland, Governor Myer from Delaware, and Governor Evers from Wisconsin. 

In January of this year, they published letters to the editor in 10 states calling for Governors to keep up the pressure on the EPA. Then, this June, New Jersey’s Attorney General Jennifer Davenport led a public comment signed by the attorneys general of 13 other states and Washington, D.C., that echoed the call for the EPA to monitor microplastics!

The message is clear: people want the EPA to take action on microplastics.

All Hands on Deck to Counter the EPA’s Failure to Protect Us!

Nevertheless, in an outrageous move, the EPA failed to include microplastics in its proposed monitoring rule. Although the EPA acknowledged our petition and the petition of the governors, it decided to not to include microplastics in the proposal, not based on an assessment of public risks, but because the EPA has failed to finalize a methodology. 

That’s not good enough. The EPA has been working on this for years, and California already has methodologies for drinking water monitoring. The public shouldn’t have to pay the price for foot-dragging by the Trump EPA. 

We can’t wait another 5 years — or more — until the next monitoring cycle for the EPA to get its act together and start to protect people from microplastics. We need monitoring now — not delays and excuses. 

The fight is not over; the proposal is out for public comment right now. We have 60 days to demonstrate widespread public support for microplastics monitoring. 

We need a massive wave of public comments to show that people, families, and communities across the country demand transparency about the microplastics in their taps.

We have a right to know what is in our drinking water. Let’s make some history. Read on to learn how to submit your comment today!

How to Submit a Comment to the EPA for Microplastics Monitoring

Submitting a comment to Regulations.gov is easy.

1. Go to this Regulations.gov page.
2. Provide your information. Type in your comment or attach a document with your comment. 
3. Click “Submit Comment.”

We have a guide that has a ton of helpful best practices, talking points, and data for you to use in your public comment. Take a look here. We have until August 31, 2026, to submit comments to the EPA. Let’s go! 

Here is some sample comment language to get you started:

I urge you to include microplastics on the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6) because my family deserves to know if their drinking water is contaminated with these tiny plastic particles. Monitoring will inform us so that we can take action to protect ourselves now and it will inform future action by the EPA to ensure that our drinking water is safe from microplastics. 

Sincerely, 

[Your Full Name]

[City, State]

And there you have it! You made history in submitting your comment. Now it’s time to share it with your community! 

Go the Extra Mile: Ask Your Friends to Submit a Comment!

Want to expand your impact? Ask your friends, family, and community members to submit their own comments! Here’s a simple email you can copy and paste to get started:

Hi friend, 

I just submitted a comment to the EPA, and I think you might want to as well. Right now, we have a unique opportunity to pressure the EPA to monitor for microplastics in our drinking water. We need a massive wave of public comments to show that people across the country demand transparency about the microplastics in their taps. 

Submit your public comment to tell the EPA: Microplastics are a public health crisis that can no longer be ignored. EPA must include microplastics on the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6). We have a right to know what is in our drinking water.

More info on the EPA microplastics campaign and how to submit your comment can be found in this handy guide. https://fwaction.us/microplasticscomment

The deadline to submit your comment is August 31, 2026.

Let me know if you have any questions! I am here for you!