Consumer Confidence Reports

A Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) is the annual water quality disclosure that federal law requires every community water system in the United States to deliver to its customers. The report tells customers what was detected in their drinking water during the previous calendar year, where the water came from, and whether any regulated standards were exceeded.

What a CCR is

Congress established the CCR requirement in the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-182). The statute, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 300g-3(c)(4), directed EPA to write implementing regulations within 24 months. EPA published the original rule in 1998. The America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-270) then directed EPA to revise the rule, which EPA did with the May 2024 revisions finalized at 89 FR 46013 and effective June 24, 2024.

The statutory chain matters because it explains why the CCR rule has three layers of obligation: the baseline from 1996, the biannual delivery requirement added in 2018, and the 2024 revisions that phase in through 2027.

The rule lives at 40 CFR Part 141 Subpart O, §§ 141.151–141.156. Before the 2024 revisions, the range was §§ 141.151–141.155. The 2024 revisions added § 141.156, which created a new mandatory summary section effective January 1, 2027.

The CCR is commonly called a "water quality report" or "annual water quality report" — the names are interchangeable. The federal rule uses "consumer confidence report" throughout.

Who must produce one

Every community water system (CWS) that serves at least 25 people or has at least 15 service connections year-round must produce a CCR (40 CFR § 141.151). This covers roughly 50,000 systems nationally.

Non-community water systems — transient and non-transient non-community systems, such as campgrounds or schools that operate their own wells — are not required to produce a CCR. Private wells are also exempt.

Within the CWS category, the specific delivery and content requirements scale by the number of people the system serves. The four federal population cliffs are:

Note: the 3,300-person threshold that appears in some state guidance documents is not a federal CCR cliff. Federal CCR obligations hinge on the 500, 10,000, 50,000, and 100,000 thresholds above.

If your system purchases water from a wholesale provider, the wholesaler must deliver the data you need for your CCR by April 1 each year (40 CFR § 141.152(d)). You are still responsible for the final report.

What goes in a CCR

The content requirements appear in 40 CFR § 141.153 and § 141.154. At a minimum, every CCR must include:

System identification and source water. The name and contact information for the system, the type and location of the source water (ground water, surface water, or purchased), and a brief summary of the source water assessment if one is available.

Detected contaminant table. A table showing every regulated contaminant detected during the reporting year, or averaged over the year where running annual averages apply. For each contaminant, the table must show the level detected, the applicable regulatory standard (MCL, MCLG, treatment technique, or action level), the likely source of contamination, and the potential health effects. The regulated contaminants covered by your CCR span lead, PFAS, arsenic, nitrate, disinfection byproducts, and dozens of others.

Violations. Any instance during the year where the system failed to meet an MCL, treatment technique, or other regulatory standard. Violations must be reported even if they were resolved before the report was distributed.

Required educational language. Certain contaminants trigger mandatory boilerplate — for example, the lead educational statement, the nitrate infant-health notice, and language about consumers with weakened immune systems. This boilerplate is specified at 40 CFR § 141.154.

Lead service line inventory statement. Since the 2024 revisions, CCRs must state that a service line inventory has been prepared and tell customers how to access it. If a replacement plan exists, the CCR must reference it too (40 CFR § 141.153(h)(8)).

Mandatory summary section. Effective January 1, 2027, every CCR must open with a summary section written in plain language, displayed prominently at the beginning of the report. The summary may use infographics (40 CFR § 141.156).

For plain-language definitions of the terms that appear in a CCR — MCL, MCLG, action level, treatment technique, RAA, ND, and others — see the CCR terms and definitions glossary.

When it must reach customers

The standard deadline is July 1 of the year following the monitoring period. A CCR covering calendar year 2025 data is due July 1, 2026. This deadline applies to mailing, electronic delivery, and all other approved methods.

The 2024 rule revisions codified four delivery methods at 40 CFR § 141.155(a):

  1. Paper copy delivered by mail or hand
  2. Mail or email notification with a direct link to the report
  3. Email with a direct link or an attached electronic version
  4. Any other method approved by the primacy agency

Systems using electronic delivery must still provide a paper copy to any customer who requests one.

Within 10 days of delivering the report, the system must certify delivery to its primacy agency (the state drinking water regulatory agency, or EPA in states without primacy) (40 CFR § 141.155(e)). This is a tightening of the prior 3-month certification window.

Translation requirements have two distinct triggers. First, any system whose primacy agency determines a "large proportion" of its customers have limited English proficiency must include translated content — there is no fixed federal number, and state implementation varies (40 CFR § 141.153(h)(3)). Second, systems serving 100,000 or more people must separately develop and annually update an LEP assistance plan, beginning with the first 2027 report (40 CFR § 141.155(i)).

What's changing in 2027

2027 is the most significant compliance year for the CCR since the original 1998 rule. Three separate regulatory tracks converge:

The 2024 CCR revisions take full effect. Beginning January 1, 2027, systems producing their 2026-data CCR (due July 1, 2027) must comply with the full 2024 codification. This includes the mandatory summary section under 40 CFR § 141.156, the biannual delivery requirement for systems serving 10,000 or more, the website posting requirement for systems serving 50,000 or more, and the LEP plan requirement for systems serving 100,000 or more.

LCRI compliance begins November 1, 2027. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), finalized October 30, 2024 (89 FR 86416), lower the lead action level from 0.015 mg/L (15 µg/L) to 0.010 mg/L (10 µg/L) beginning November 1, 2027. Under LCRI, systems sampling at lead service line sites must collect paired first- and fifth-liter samples and use the higher of the two values for compliance (40 CFR § 141.86). Separate from the action level change, LCRI requires systems to complete full lead service line replacement within 10 years of the compliance date.

PFAS monitoring and CCR reporting begins. The PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, published April 26, 2024 (89 FR 32532), requires initial monitoring by April 26, 2027. Systems that detect PFAS above the applicable limits must include those results in their CCR. EPA established five individual MCLs — PFOA at 4 ng/L, PFOS at 4 ng/L, PFNA at 10 ng/L, PFHxS at 10 ng/L, and HFPO-DA at 10 ng/L — plus a Hazard Index of 1 for mixtures of PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS (40 CFR § 141.66). PFBS has no individual MCL.

For a detailed breakdown of every rule change with timelines and compliance actions, see what's changing for CCRs in 2027.

California systems

California community water systems operate under the federal CCR rule plus state requirements administered by the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water. California has additional language requirements: systems must provide translated content in Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, and other languages depending on customer demographics, with thresholds set under California Health and Safety Code § 116470 (at least 1,000 residents or at least 10% of the community served). California also requires annual Public Health Goal reporting, which is a separate document from the CCR but filed through the same eAR (Electronic Annual Report) portal.

For a full breakdown of California-specific CCR obligations, see the California CCR requirements page.

Where to go next

The sections above answer the head-term questions — what a CCR is, who must produce one, what goes in it, and when. From here, the most common next questions split by audience:

Utility staff completing a CCR — the CCR frequently asked questions covers operational topics: delivery method choices, how to report violations, what to do if a contaminant was not detected, how to meet the new mandatory summary requirements, and more.

Staff preparing for 2027 — the 2027 rule changes explainer works through the phased compliance schedule and shows exactly which sections of your CCR process need to change and when.

Consumers reading a CCR — the regulated contaminants guide explains what each contaminant listed in a CCR means, where it comes from, and what the standards require.

Anyone unfamiliar with the terminology — CCRs use defined regulatory terms that don't always mean what common usage suggests. The CCR terms and definitions glossary covers MCL, MCLG, action level, treatment technique, RAA, LRAA, ND, and others.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-03. Next scheduled review: May 2027 (annual cadence per IA Decision 9).