Glossary · Rules and reports

What Is a CCR? Your Annual Water Quality Report

CCRConsumer Confidence Report

The yearly water quality report every community water system must give its customers by July 1, showing what was found in the water against EPA limits.

  1. Contaminant and units: What was measured, and in which unit (ppm, ppb, ppt…).
  2. MCL (or AL, TT): The legal limit, or the action level or treatment technique where there is no MCL.
  3. MCLG: The health goal, in the same units as the MCL. Not enforceable.
  4. Highest level detected: The number used to judge compliance. Compare it with the MCL.
  5. Range: The lowest and highest individual results across sampling points.
  6. Violation: Yes or no: whether the utility broke the rule for that contaminant.
  7. Likely source: Where it probably comes from, such as erosion of natural deposits or household plumbing.
The columns of a CCR's detected-contaminants table, and what each one tells you.

At a glance

Who sends it
Every community water system (the utility that supplies homes year-round)
Deadline
By July 1 each year, with data from the previous calendar year
Required by
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments
From January 1, 2027
A plain-language summary up front; twice a year for systems serving 10,000+
Not covered
Private wells, and what happens in your own home's plumbing

If you’re on city water, this is the most useful free document you have about your tap. It tells you where your water comes from, which regulated contaminants were found and whether your utility broke any rules last year. It’s often a short notice or email with a link, so it’s easy to miss.

How do I get my CCR?

Check your utility’s website, your water bill or its emails first. Systems serving 50,000 or more people must post the current report online. You can also call the utility or use the search tool on the EPA’s CCR page for consumers. If you rent and don’t get a bill, ask your landlord which utility serves the building.

If you’re on a private well, there’s no CCR for you: no utility tests your water, so a lab test is how you find out. See our well water testing guide.

What should I look at first?

Three things, in this order:

  1. Violations. The report must flag any broken limit or treatment requirement, how long it lasted and what the utility did about it.
  2. The detected contaminants table. Compare each “highest level detected” with the MCL in the same row and unit.
  3. The lead and copper row: the 90th percentile result, how many homes were over the action level, and the range.

A separate table may list unregulated contaminants, with the average and range found and no limit to compare, by design. That’s where PFAS results from the EPA’s UCMR 5 monitoring can appear. Our step-by-step guide to reading your water quality report explains every column.

What can’t a CCR tell you?

It describes the water your utility delivered last year, not your own pipes. Lead from a service line, solder or faucets can vary from home to home. Urgent problems don’t wait for the report either: under the EPA’s Public Notification Rule, utilities have 24 hours to tell you when health could be immediately affected. If you get a boil-water or other notice, follow it, whatever the last report said.

What changes in 2027?

EPA’s revised CCR rule is final, and utilities must follow it from January 1, 2027. Reports will open with a plain-language summary of violations and compliance, and systems serving 10,000 or more people will send them twice a year, by July 1 and by December 31. From November 1, 2027, they’ll also carry more lead information from the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements.

A clean report and no lead plumbing at home usually means you don’t need a filter for health reasons.

Published by the Checked Water editorial team

Sources

  1. CCR Information for Consumers (Clinical guideline, US EPA, 2025)
  2. 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart O: Consumer Confidence Reports (Source, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (National Archives), 2026)
  3. Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions (Clinical guideline, US EPA, 2025)
  4. Public Law 104-182: Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (Source, US Government Publishing Office, 1996)
  5. Public Notification Rule (Clinical guideline, US EPA, 2026)
  6. Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) (Clinical guideline, US EPA, 2026)

Where CCR comes up