Every year your utility publishes the most useful document about your tap water — and almost nobody reads it. The Consumer Confidence Report, or CCR, lists what the utility detected, how those levels compare with federal limits, and whether the system broke any rules. It takes about ten minutes to read once you know what the columns mean — and it describes your utility’s water, not your specific tap.
We have not tested your water. What we can do is show you how to read the utility’s own published numbers — the same numbers regulators see. Start with our what’s in my water tool below, then open the full report. More context: the water quality hub.
Disclosure: TapChecked is reader-supported. If you buy through links on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which products we pick or how we rank them. See how we check and our full disclosure.
Step 1 (minutes 0–2): find your report
The EPA requires every community water system to deliver a Consumer Confidence Report each year, sent by July 1 and covering the previous calendar year’s monitoring. Most utilities post it on their website — search your utility’s name (on your water bill) with “Consumer Confidence Report.” If you rent and the account is in your landlord’s name, the report may never reach you; the utility still has to provide it on request.
The EPA’s consumer CCR page links to an EPA CCR search tool and lists the Safe Drinking Water Hotline, 1-800-426-4791. Or start here: our lookup tells you the exact system name to search for.
Step 2 (minutes 2–4): read the front page before the table
The opening section answers three questions. Where does the water come from — surface water, groundwater, or a blend? The source shapes which contaminants are even plausible. Who runs the system, and how many people does it serve? And what is the system’s summary of contamination risks to its source? Reports must include the source, a summary of that risk, and contact information. Skim it, but do not skip it.
Step 3 (minutes 4–8): the detected-contaminants table
This table is the heart of the report. It lists only contaminants that were detected — contaminants tested for but not found generally do not appear — and each row follows the same anatomy:
| Column | What it means | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Contaminant | The regulated substance detected | Absence from the table usually means not detected, not “not tested” |
| MCLG | Maximum Contaminant Level Goal: the level below which there is no known or expected risk to health, with a margin of safety. Not enforceable; zero for some contaminants | The health benchmark. Compare the level found against this first |
| MCL | Maximum Contaminant Level: the highest level legally allowed, set as close to the MCLG as is feasible. Enforceable | Above the MCL is a violation. Between the MCLG and the MCL is legal — the gap worth noticing |
| Level found | What was measured — usually an average across the year’s samples | Read it against both numbers above it, not just the legal limit |
| Range | The lowest and highest individual results behind the average | The column people skip; a comfortable average can hide a high top end |
| Likely source | Where the contaminant typically comes from — natural deposits, runoff, discharge, or disinfection by-products | Shows whether it is a source-water issue or a treatment by-product |
The MCLG-versus-MCL gap is the most misunderstood thing in the report. The MCLG is the health goal, unenforced. The MCL is the enforceable limit, set as close to the goal as technology and cost allow. So “in compliance” means “at or below the legal limit” — for a contaminant whose goal is zero, a detected level can be legal and still above the level tied to no known or expected risk.
The units: ppm, ppb and ppt
Reports mix three units, differing by thousands. Parts per million (ppm), usually written as milligrams per litre (mg/L), is the scale for contaminants like nitrate and fluoride. Parts per billion (ppb), or micrograms per litre, is a thousand times smaller — the scale for lead and many disinfection by-products. Parts per trillion (ppt), or nanograms per litre, is a thousand times smaller again — the scale for PFAS, where the EPA’s limits for PFOA and PFOS are 4.0 ppt each. Anchor conversion: 1 ppm = 1,000 ppb = 1,000,000 ppt. Check units before comparing numbers.
Lead and copper are handled differently — on purpose
Lead and copper usually do not sit in the main table, because they mostly enter water after it leaves the plant, corroding out of service lines, solder and fixtures. The Lead and Copper Rule therefore sets an action level instead of an MCL — 15 ppb for lead, 1.3 mg/L for copper — applied to the 90th percentile of samples collected at customers’ taps: line the results up lowest to highest, and the value at the 90 percent mark is compared with the action level.
An exceedance is not labelled a violation the way an MCL breach is, but it triggers corrosion-control steps, further monitoring, public education and, in relevant cases, lead service line replacement. Two notes. First, the lead MCLG is zero — “below the action level” is a compliance statement, not a statement that no lead was found. Second, the number describes the sampled homes as a group; your plumbing is not in it. One change to know: the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements lower the lead action level to 10 ppb from November 1, 2027 — today’s reports still use 15 ppb.
Step 4 (minutes 8–10): violations, and the dates
If the system had violations, the report must say so, describe the health effects of any contaminant detected in violation of an EPA standard, and account for the system’s actions to restore safe drinking water. Notice the kind of violation. A health-based violation — an MCL or treatment-technique breach — differs from a monitoring or reporting violation, where the failing was testing or filing late; they do not mean the same thing about the water. Finally, check the dates: sampling is periodic, and some contaminants are sampled less often than annually, so a row can rest on older data.
A worked walk-through: reading a groundwater report
Take a system profile like the one our lookup returns for the Lansing Board of Water & Light: groundwater, roughly 166,000 people served, a lead 90th percentile recorded as not detected, and no health-based violations across the last ten years in the federal record. The ten minutes go like this. The groundwater source primes you to look for naturally occurring minerals and treatment by-products rather than a river system’s turbidity and runoff rows. In the table, run the same comparison row by row: level found against MCLG first, then MCL, then the range. “Not detected” at the lead 90th percentile means at least 90 percent of sampled taps came back below the detection level that round — reassuring about corrosion control, and still not a measurement of your kitchen tap. An empty violations section means the report’s job here is confirmation.
What the report does not tell you
- Your home’s plumbing. The report describes the system’s water. Lead from your own service line, solder or fixtures is added after that water is measured; tap sampling covers a sample of homes, not yours.
- Your lead service line. The CCR will not tell you whether the pipe connecting your house is lead. Utilities keep separate service-line inventories — ask the utility, or have your tap tested by an accredited lab.
- Today’s water. The report covers the previous calendar year, on periodic sampling — a compliance record, not a live feed.
- Unregulated contaminants, mostly. The table covers regulated contaminants that were detected; substances without federal limits generally do not get rows — a gap to know about, not a clean bill for everything unlisted. Private well owners get no CCR at all; see the best water filter for well water guide.
Where is hardness? Usually not here
People open a CCR hunting for hardness because they are sizing a softener, and usually come up empty. The reason is structural: hardness is not a regulated health contaminant, so no rule requires it in the table. Some utilities volunteer it in a “water characteristics” panel or FAQ page, but if it is absent, that is normal, not evasive. To get the number, ask the utility or run a lab test; a figure in milligrams per litre divides by 17.1 to give grains per gallon, the unit softeners are sized in. Softener claims are covered in NSF 42 vs 53 vs 58 vs 401.
What to do with what you found
Most reports end the same way: everything at or below its legal limit, violations section empty. The honest next step is usually nothing — or a home test if your house, not the utility, is your concern. If a contaminant sits persistently between its MCLG and its MCL, or your worry is specific — PFAS, lead — require any filter’s certification to name it: our best under-sink water filters for PFAS guide shows that paperwork done properly. Keep this year’s report: one CCR is a snapshot, three are a trend.
Frequently asked questions
My report says everything is in compliance. Does that mean zero contaminants?
No. Compliance means every detected level was at or below its enforceable MCL, and no action level was exceeded. The table will still list detected contaminants, some above their non-enforceable MCLG — including contaminants whose goal is zero. Detected, legal and zero are three different statements.
Why isn’t lead in the main contaminants table?
Because lead mostly comes from plumbing, not source water, it has its own rule: tap samples at homes, a 90th-percentile result, and an action level of 15 ppb instead of an MCL. Look for a separate lead and copper section.
I never received a report. Am I entitled to one?
Yes, if you are a customer of a community water system — it must be delivered by July 1 each year. Renters whose landlord holds the account often miss the mailing; ask the utility, use the EPA’s CCR search tool, or call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. Our what’s in my water tool confirms which system serves you.
Does the report cover PFAS?
Increasingly, but unevenly. PFOA and PFOS now have enforceable limits — 4.0 ppt each, set in 2024 — but a CCR only shows what the system monitored and detected in that cycle. If your report is silent and PFAS is your concern, ask the utility for its PFAS results rather than treating silence as a zero.
How do I find out about my own tap, not the system’s average?
Test it. A state-accredited lab test of a sample from your kitchen tap is the only document that describes your home’s water, including anything your plumbing adds. It costs less than most filter systems and tells you whether you need one — and for which contaminant.
The bottom line
Ten minutes, four habits: find the current report, read the level found against the goal before the legal limit, give lead and copper their separate reading, and check violations and dates. The report ends at the system; your home begins after it.