How to read your Consumer Confidence Report: the violations sections, range versus average, and the lead line that is not about your tap
A CCR is due by July 1 and covers mandatory monitoring only. The lead line is a 90th percentile of up to 100 homes, and data can be 5 years old.
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Short answer
A Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) is the annual water quality report every community water system must distribute to its customers by July 1, under 40 CFR 141.155(j)(1). It describes the distribution system, not your tap. The contaminant table covers only contaminants subject to mandatory monitoring, and 40 CFR 141.153(d)(3)(i) allows a result up to 5 years old where a system monitors less than yearly. For TTHM and HAA5 the headline figure is the highest locational running annual average, so a short spike can sit inside a printed average; the range column beside it carries the individual sample results. The lead figure is a 90th percentile across a fixed set of homes, 100 sites for a system serving over 100,000 people under 40 CFR 141.86(c)(1), and not a reading from your address. Read three things in order: the violations sections, the range column, and the source water paragraph.
If the document in front of you is a private laboratory result with ND, MDL and mg/L columns, this is the wrong page: how to read a water test report owns that vocabulary.
Where do you find your Consumer Confidence Report?
It is due by July 1 each year, per 40 CFR 141.155(j)(1). Utilities post it, mail it, or print a link on the bill.
EPA’s national lookup at sdwis.epa.gov/fylccr collects many of them, and warns that “CCRs for all water systems may not be available”. When it comes back empty, ask the utility by name rather than assuming none exists.
A private well has no CCR. 40 CFR 141.153(a) puts the duty on community water systems, and EPA states that private domestic wells are not regulated by the Federal Government under the Safe Drinking Water Act. A well owner orders a panel instead: the well water test panel guide lists what to put on it.
Where are the violations, and why are there two places?
Two, and readers usually find only the first.
| Where it appears | What the rule requires | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Inside the contaminant table | Any data indicating a violation of an MCL, MRDL or treatment technique, clearly identified, with the length of the violation, the potential adverse health effects, and actions taken | 40 CFR 141.153(d)(6) |
| A separate compliance section | Monitoring and reporting violations | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(1) |
| A separate compliance section | Filtration and disinfection violations | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(2) |
| A separate compliance section | Lead and copper control violations | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(3) |
| A separate compliance section | Acrylamide and epichlorohydrin treatment technique violations | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(4) |
| A separate compliance section | Recordkeeping of compliance data | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(5) |
| A separate compliance section | Special monitoring requirements | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(6) |
| A separate compliance section | Violation of the terms of a variance, exemption or order | 40 CFR 141.153(f)(7) |
A system can show no exceedance in the table and still carry a monitoring and reporting violation further down the page. The first says a limit was crossed, the second says the required checking was not done.
Why can an average hide a spike?
Because 40 CFR 141.153(d)(4)(iv) prints whichever figure matches how that contaminant’s compliance is calculated.
| Case | What the report prints | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance determined annually or less often | The highest detected level at any sampling point, and the range of detected levels | 141.153(d)(4)(iv)(A) |
| Compliance determined by a running annual average | The highest average of any monitoring location, and the range of individual sample results | 141.153(d)(4)(iv)(B) |
| TTHM and HAA5 specifically | The highest locational running annual average, and the range of individual sample results | 141.153(d)(4)(iv)(B) |
Disinfection byproducts fall in the second group. The MCLs in 40 CFR 141.64(b) are 0.080 mg/L for TTHM and 0.060 mg/L for HAA5, and compliance averages four quarters at a location. A warm-weather quarter above the MCL can average out against three cold ones and never reach the headline column.
The range column is the answer to that. It is the only place an individual sample result is printed, so a reader who compares only the bold number to the MCL is reading the wrong cell.
Two smaller things distort the same table. 40 CFR 141.153(d)(4)(i) requires the MCL to be expressed as a number equal to or greater than 1.0, which is why a CCR shows TTHM as 80 ppb where a laboratory report shows 0.080 mg/L. And 141.153(d)(3)(i) lets a system monitoring less than once a year print its most recent sampling date and result, with no data older than 5 years needing to be included.
What does the lead 90th-percentile line actually tell you?
It tells you about the utility’s sample set, not about your house.
40 CFR 141.153(d)(4)(vi) requires the 90th percentile concentration of the most recent sampling rounds, the number of sites exceeding the action level, and the range of tap results. 40 CFR 141.86(c)(1) fixes how many sites that is.
| People served | Standard number of lead and copper sampling sites |
|---|---|
| More than 100,000 | 100 |
| 10,001 to 100,000 | 60 |
| 3,301 to 10,000 | 40 |
| 501 to 3,300 | 20 |
| 101 to 500 | 10 |
| 100 or fewer | 5 |
A system serving 400,000 people reports a 90th percentile drawn from 100 homes. That percentile exceeds the action level above 15 ppb today, the 0.015 mg/L figure in the 1 July 2020 codification that 40 CFR 141.80(a)(4)(i) keeps in force, dropping to 0.010 mg/L on the 1 November 2027 compliance date in 40 CFR 141.80(a)(3). Either way it is a trigger for the utility, not a result for your address.
The report says as much in its own required words. The lead statement in 40 CFR 141.154(d)(1) has the system tell you it “cannot control the variety of materials used in the plumbing in your home”, and that “lead exposure is possible even when your tap sampling results do not detect lead at one point in time”. The lead and service line guide covers the checks that do describe your own plumbing.
What does the source water section tell you?
More than most readers use. 40 CFR 141.153(b)(1) requires the report to name the type of water, surface or ground, and the commonly used name and location of the body of water.
40 CFR 141.153(b)(2) goes further: where a source water assessment has been completed, the report must say so, give the year it was completed or last updated, and say how to obtain it. Where the system received that assessment from the primacy agency, the report must carry a brief summary of the system’s susceptibility to potential sources of contamination. That is usually three sentences, and it is the closest a CCR comes to naming what may show up next.
Before you buy anything
Do not choose equipment off a CCR alone. The report stops at the service line, so nothing in it describes your own pipes, solder, fixtures or water heater. Read the range column and both violations sections first, then get a number from your own tap. The water test kit review compares laboratory packages and strips by what each actually reports, and the chlorine and chloramine guide shows why a disinfectant named on the CCR still needs a strip at the tap.
What is changing in 2027?
EPA announced the final CCR Rule Revisions on 15 May 2024, made under America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, with compliance starting in 2027. 40 CFR 141.152(a) sets the switch date of 1 January 2027.
| Change from 1 January 2027 | Regulation |
|---|---|
| A summary of violations and compliance information, plus system contact information, displayed prominently at the beginning of the report | 40 CFR 141.156(a) and (b) |
| Systems serving 10,000 or more persons distribute a second report by December 31, in addition to the July 1 report | 40 CFR 141.155(j)(2) |
| A 6-month update with that second report, where a violation or action level exceedance fell between January 1 and June 30, or UCMR results arrived | 40 CFR 141.155(j)(3) |
What should you do first?
- Find the report distributed by July 1 for the previous calendar year.
- Read both violation places: the table flags under 141.153(d)(6) and the compliance section under 141.153(f).
- Compare the range column to the MCL, not the headline average.
- Check the sampling date on any contaminant monitored less than yearly; it can be 5 years old.
- Read the lead 90th percentile as a utility figure, and order your own first-draw sample for your address.
Frequently asked questions
When should my Consumer Confidence Report arrive, and where do I find it?
Every community water system must distribute the report by July 1 each year under 40 CFR 141.155(j)(1). EPA runs a national lookup at sdwis.epa.gov/fylccr, which states you should receive a report each year by July 1 and warns that CCRs for all water systems may not be available. If the lookup has nothing, ask the utility directly for the current report.
Why does my CCR print an average when I want the highest reading?
40 CFR 141.153(d)(4)(iv) sets two cases. Where compliance is a running annual average, as for TTHM and HAA5, the report shows the highest locational running annual average and the range of individual sample results. Where compliance is determined annually or less often, it shows the highest detected level and the range of detected levels. The range column is where a single high sample appears.
Does the lead number on my CCR describe my own tap?
No. 40 CFR 141.153(d)(4)(vi) requires the 90th percentile concentration of the most recent sampling rounds, the number of sites exceeding the action level, and the range of tap results. Standard monitoring under 40 CFR 141.86(c)(1) uses 100 sites for a system serving over 100,000 people and 5 sites for one serving 100 or fewer. Your address is almost certainly not among them.
What changes about Consumer Confidence Reports in 2027?
EPA announced the final CCR Rule Revisions on 15 May 2024, made under America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, with compliance starting in 2027. From 1 January 2027, 40 CFR 141.156 requires a summary of violations and compliance information displayed prominently at the beginning of the report, and 141.155(j)(2) requires systems serving 10,000 or more persons to distribute a second report by December 31.
Is there a Consumer Confidence Report for a private well?
No. 40 CFR 141.153(a) places the duty on community water systems, which EPA defines as a public water system that supplies water to the same population year-round. EPA states that private domestic wells are not regulated by the Federal Government under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and that around 15 percent of the U.S. population relies on them. A well owner orders a laboratory panel instead.
Fact sheet and how to cite this page
- Answer
- A Consumer Confidence Report is the annual drinking water quality report every community water system must distribute by July 1 under 40 CFR 141.155(j)(1). It reports the distribution system, not your tap. The lead figure is the 90th percentile of a fixed sample of homes, 100 sites for a system serving over 100,000 people, and a result can be up to 5 years old.
- Basis
- 40 CFR part 141 subpart O (CCR Rule: 141.152 through 141.156) and 40 CFR 141.80 and 141.86 for the lead action level and the standard monitoring site counts
- Assumptions
- The report is a US community water system CCR; a private well has no CCR and a private laboratory report is a different document
- Regulatory text is the current eCFR rendering of 40 CFR part 141, which already carries the 2024 CCR revisions that systems must meet from 1 January 2027
- The lead action level is 15 ppb until the 1 November 2027 compliance date in 40 CFR 141.80(a)(3), when the 0.010 mg/L figure in 141.80(c)(1) applies
- Method
- Content, timing and violation requirements read from the current eCFR text of 40 CFR 141.152, 141.153, 141.154, 141.155 and 141.156; monitoring site counts from 141.86(c)(1); action levels from 141.80; TTHM and HAA5 MCLs from 141.64(b); delivery and rule-revision summary from EPA’s CCR pages, all on 2026-09-21. Nothing was tested.
- Primary source
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.153, Content of the reports (government or regulatory source)
- Facts verified
- Last updated
- Cite as
- OwnerSpec, "How to read your Consumer Confidence Report: the violations sections, range versus average, and the lead line that is not about your tap", https://ownerspec.com/water/guides/how-to-read-your-consumer-confidence-report/, facts verified 21 September 2026.
Every figure above also appears, with its source, in the article. All sources ยท How OwnerSpec verifies numbers
Sources
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.153, Content of the reports (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.155, Report delivery and recordkeeping (delivery timing and biannual delivery) (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.156, Summary of report contents (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.154, Required additional health information (the required lead statement) (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.152, Compliance dates (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.80, General requirements and action level (lead and copper) (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.80 as codified on 1 July 2020 (the 0.015 mg/L lead action level in force until 1 November 2027) (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.86, Tap sampling requirements (standard monitoring site counts) (government or regulatory source)
- eCFR, 40 CFR 141.64, Maximum contaminant levels for disinfection byproducts (government or regulatory source)
- EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions (government or regulatory source)
- EPA, CCR Information for Consumers (government or regulatory source)
- EPA, Find Your Local Consumer Confidence Report (government or regulatory source)
- EPA, Information about Public Water Systems (community water system definition) (government or regulatory source)
- EPA, Private Drinking Water Wells (government or regulatory source)