Water Quality Reporting - Consumer Confidence Reports

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Water Quality Reporting

In 1996, Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act, adding a provision requiring that all community water systems deliver to their customers a brief water quality report annually.

What is a CCR and why do I get it?

A groundwater or surface water source may encounter many contaminants as it travels to a water treatment plant. While treatment systems will remove the majority of these pollutants, some level of contaminants are to be expected - whether they are minerals or bacteria naturally present in the environment, or potentially harmful substances resulting from human activity.

In light of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act, community water systems are required to provide their customers with a water quality report on an annual basis. This report is to inform customers about these contaminants in their drinking water, and provide information regarding levels of concern for the consumer. The Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) contains language pertaining to the system’s source of water, potential health effects of certain contaminants, and any regulatory violations that may have occurred over the year.

Here’s what the requirements for delivery are:

  • A copy of the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) must be delivered, or made available to, each of the water system’s customers.

  • Water systems that serve over 100,000 people must post their CCR to a public website

  • If posting to a website, the supplier must provide a direct URL to customers to access the CCR

  • CCRs must also be certified with the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) within 3 months after distribution of the CCR to customers, or by October 1st each year.  

  • Annual CCRs must be delivered to customers by July 1 of each year

Throughout the year, community water systems collect and analyze samples within their water supply, and upload the results every month to the Drinking Water Electronic Lab Reporting (DWELR) system. The results are then processed through the Pennsylvania Drinking Water Information System (PADWIS) to ensure compliance with EPA and DEP regulations. Contaminants are assigned very stringent Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), and must meet these, as an exceedance could pose a health risk to customers. If the MCL is exceeded, this results in a violation and the water system must take steps to resolve it. This may include issuing a Public Notification to consumers containing information on why the violation occurred and how to mitigate the effects of the exceedance, such as a Boil Water Advisory. Contaminants that are not yet regulated are reported to assist EPA with monitoring the occurrence of these contaminants, and to help determine whether future regulation is necessary.

Understanding the CCR

The CCR is a general overview of the water quality delivered by your community water system. The report lists the regulated contaminants detected in the treated water and the level at which they were found. The CCR intends to provide customers with information on what they are consuming, and whether or not they should be concerned about certain contaminants.

Included in the CCR are website links and contact numbers for consumers should they have questions, or want to find additional information regarding health effects of the less common contaminants.

Understanding potential health effects:

The CCR provides parameters such as Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) which is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.

To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effect.

Generally, if there are no MCL violations for the detected contaminants, a customer could know that they are drinking safe, clean water.

Making the most of information.

SSM assists many of our clients to prepare their annual Consumer Confidence Report. We collect the water system’s analytical data and analyze the data including calculating the average and maximum results of each detected contaminant. We are proud to assist our clients in putting together the information that consumers deserve to know. Remember, your Consumer Confidence Report provides you with important information about the quality of your drinking water. If you have a question about your water system’s report, or any of the terminology and what it means for you - always ask!