How the AWI Works
Inverted Scale
Score 1 = nothing to worry about. Score 100 = serious problems. Lower is always better. The opposite of every other rating system out there.
Personalized to You
Your survey answers become the lens. Budget-conscious? Price weighs more. Eco-warrior? Carbon footprint dominates. Your priorities shape every score.
Cross-Referenced
We aggregate scores from EWG, Consumer Reports, health databases, and independent labs into an Industry Consensus score — then show how it compares to your personal AWI.
AWI Grade Scale
Six Dimensions of Your Score
Every AWI score is a weighted composite of six dimensions, each personalized to your survey answers.
Purity Delta
Contaminant levels vs your health sensitivity. PFAS, microplastics, heavy metals, chlorine byproducts — weighted by how much you care.
Value Delta
Price per gallon vs quality delivered. Budget-sensitive users see expensive waters penalized more. The conscious satisfier metric.
Availability Delta
How easy is it to get near you? Nationwide distribution vs online-only. Local sourcing preference increases penalty for distant imports.
Sustainability Delta
Packaging material, carbon footprint of shipping, corporate environmental practices. Glass preference amplifies plastic penalties.
Mineral Delta
Mineral richness (calcium, magnesium, silica) vs your preference. Some want mineral-rich, others want pure H2O.
Trust Delta
Corporate transparency, third-party testing, source disclosure. Brand skeptics see opaque companies penalized heavily.
Your Personalized Rankings
Using default balanced profile. Take the survey on the Tap Water page for personalized scores.
Why 1 is Perfect
Every other water rating system uses a 0-100 scale where 100 is best. Most apps cluster scores between 70-95, making it nearly impossible to distinguish meaningful differences. We reject this.
"In the Great Simplification, the goal is not accumulation but reduction — reducing complexity, reducing waste, reducing the distance between what we need and what we consume. A perfect score of 1 embodies this: nothing to add, nothing to worry about, nothing wasted."
— Inspired by Nate Hagens, The Great Simplification
A score of 1 means: this water is exactly what you need, at a price you can afford, available where you live, packaged the way you prefer, from a source you trust. It is YOUR perfect water.
A score of 100 means: this water fails you on every dimension you care about. It is the furthest thing from what a conscious satisfier would choose.