The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 provided a number of public participation and notification elements. One of these elements includes provisions for annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs), or “water quality reports”, to be developed and provided to consumers by community water systems. These reports are intended to provide community water systems with the opportunity to improve public confidence in their water system, advance the public’s understanding of drinking water, heighten public awareness of the need to protect water resources, enhance the image of the professionals in the drinking water community, as well as provide the consumer with information about the quality of their drinking water. Since the inception of the CCR requirement in 1999, additional information is now required. To view the new requirements of reports due after July 1, 2004, all community systems should review:
Additionally, systems serving 1,000 or more persons should access:
The preparation and distribution of these reports are not optional and all community water systems must prepare a CCR. No additional monitoring is required for the CCR. The report provides information only on the monitoring that is already required. CCRs are required yearly and must be provided to consumers by July 1. The reports are to include information about the CWSs source of water and the results of monitoring done during the previous calendar year. Systems are also being encouraged to add other information to the report, such as an explanation of its treatment processes and any upgrades that are being done or planned for the system.
For information and assistance on preparing a CCR, community water systems should read:
For information and health effects language concerning drinking water contaminants access:
Does your system serve less than 10,000 customers? See the Drinking Water Section’s Mailing Waiver document for mailing instructions.
Once your system’s CCR has been completed, and mailed accordingly, you must submit a signed Certification Form to us indicating that the information contained within the CCR is correct and consistent with monitoring data previously submitted to us, and that the report was mailed to consumers by the July 1 deadline.
This page includes information specifically targeted for community water systems. Other interested individuals may obtain information regarding their CCRs directly from the community water system that provides their drinking water.
Additionally, the public may access the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website that follows to view a partial list of CCR’s online here.