The majority of households in North America receive their water from a local water system or provider. In the United States alone there are 54,000 of these systems, and each system is unique - from its size to its source. If you receive your water from a water system, the best way to learn more is to contact them directly, or to review your annual Consumer Confidence Report. Additional information about these reports is available below.
To learn more about local U.S. water sheds, visit the EPA’s “Surf Your Watershed” webpage. To access data about Canadian drinking water systems please visit the Health Canada website.
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments require that all community water systems provide customers with an annual report on the quality of their drinking water. The law calls this report a Consumer Confidence Report but are also known as annual water quality reports or drinking water quality reports.
The
CCR includes information on drinking water sources used, if any contaminants are detected, and if so, which ones. Regulatory compliance and educational information is also included in the report.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the CCR is distributed to community water systems, which “are public water systems that have at least 15 service connections or regularly serve at least 25 year-round residents”. Customers are considered the listed accounts that are billed for water service.
One copy of the report must be mailed to each customer, unless the governor of a state has waived the mailing requirement for community water systems serving fewer than 10,000 persons. Customers must receive it by July 1 each year.
Yes. Contact your local water utility for information.
If there is a question about a utility's compliance, any customer or public health interest group can
file a complaint with either EPA or the State Drinking Water Administrator.