Across the United States and Canada, there are millions of piping systems that transport drinking water to our homes, schools, businesses and hospitals. Made from materials such as copper and an array of different plastic types, these piping installations are meant to safeguard the safety, purity and cleanliness of our water during transportation. However, recent piping crises (such as the lead contamination event in Flint, Michigan, and the benzene contamination event in Santa Rosa, California) have demonstrated our water’s safety is not always guaranteed. In the modern piping system, water contamination events may occur through individual instances of or combinations of leaching, fires, permeation, and microplastics.