How to find and read your annual water quality report

What the report is and who must publish it

A Consumer Confidence Report is the yearly summary of a water system's water quality. Federal rules require community water systems, the systems that serve people where they live, to deliver one to their customers by July 1 each year. The report must describe where the water comes from, list the regulated contaminants that were detected, explain any violations, and give a phone number for questions.

The requirement applies only to community systems. A school, office or campground with its own supply is a different type of public water system and does not issue a CCR, and private wells are not covered at all. AquaCensus lists 49,378 active community water systems, so there are tens of thousands of these reports each year, most of them from small systems: 26,466 of those systems report serving 500 people or fewer.

How to get your report

Each community water system must deliver the report directly to its customers. It may mail a paper copy, or deliver it electronically, for example with a direct link in a mailed or emailed notice; anyone who receives it electronically can ask for a paper copy. Places to look:

1. Your water bill or the mail or email that came with it around midsummer.
2. Your utility's website, often under "water quality".
3. EPA's Consumer Confidence Report search tool, which you search by state and then by system name, city or county. EPA notes that not every system's report is available there.
4. A call to the utility, which must list a phone number in the report and can send you a copy.

If you rent or otherwise do not get a water bill, the rules require the system to make a good faith effort to reach people like you, for example by posting the report online or mailing notices to service addresses. Some small systems have lighter delivery rules: a state can waive the mailing requirement for systems serving fewer than 10,000 people, in which case the report is published locally instead, and systems serving 500 or fewer people may simply give notice once a year that the report is available on request.

If you are not sure which system serves you, the water systems directory lets you browse by state and county.

Reading the detected contaminants table

The table is the core of the report. Each row is a regulated contaminant that was detected, and the columns follow definitions the rule requires every report to print:

• MCLG (maximum contaminant level goal): the level below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow a margin of safety and are not enforceable limits.
• MCL (maximum contaminant level): the highest level allowed in drinking water, set as close to the MCLG as feasible using the best available treatment technology. This is the legal limit.
• Action level: for contaminants such as lead and copper, the concentration that, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requirements.
• Treatment technique: a required process intended to reduce a contaminant, used where EPA regulates a process rather than a number.

For most contaminants the report shows the highest level detected and the range of results, in the same units as the MCL. Compare the detected level with the MCL in the same row. For some contaminants compliance is judged on a running annual average, and the table then shows the highest average alongside the range of individual results. The report must clearly identify any result that is a violation and explain it, including its length, potential health effects and what the system did about it. For lead and copper, the report shows the 90th percentile of the most recent round of tap samples and how many sampling sites exceeded the action level, because those rules are based on a set of home tap samples rather than a single measurement.

If a contaminant is tested less often than once a year, the report may show the most recent results, with a statement saying so; data older than five years need not be included.

The standard statements in every report

Several paragraphs appear in nearly identical words in every report, because the rule requires them:

• An explanation that both tap water and bottled water come from rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells, and that drinking water, including bottled water, "may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants." The required text adds that the presence of contaminants "does not necessarily mean that water poses a health risk."
• A statement that some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants than the general population, including people with weakened immune systems, some elderly people and infants, and that they should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.
• An informational statement about lead in drinking water, including that it comes primarily from materials in service lines and home plumbing.
• Information on the source of the water and, where a source water assessment has been done, how to get it.

These statements are boilerplate, not findings about your system. The system-specific information is in the contaminant table, the violations section and the source description.

What the report does not tell you

A CCR is a look back. The report due by July 1 covers data from the previous calendar year, so it will not show a problem that began afterwards. Urgent problems are communicated separately through public notices, which for the most serious situations must go out within 24 hours.

It also describes the water the system delivers, not the water at your particular tap. The required lead statement notes that the utility cannot control the materials used in plumbing inside your home. And it is a summary. For a system's full federal violation history, each AquaCensus system page lists recent violations from EPA's records, and the largest water systems ranking is a starting point for big utilities.

Changes taking effect in 2027

EPA revised the CCR rule in 2024, and the main changes apply beginning January 1, 2027. Reports must open with a prominent summary that covers violations and compliance information and gives a contact for questions. Community water systems serving 10,000 or more people must distribute the report twice a year, by July 1 and again by December 31. Systems serving 100,000 or more people must also have a plan for helping customers with limited English proficiency.

In AquaCensus, 4,622 active community water systems report serving 10,000 or more people. Together they report about 278 million people served, so most Americans on public water can expect a twice-yearly report from 2027. (Population figures double-count people served by both a wholesaler and the utility that buys from it.)