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Questions or Comments: PWSCCR@tceq.texas.gov

What is a Consumer Confidence Report?

In depth information about the CCR.

In 1996, Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) that added a provision requiring all community water systems deliver to their customers an annual water quality report (Consumer Confidence Report). The Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) is a document that provides consumers information about the quality of drinking water in an easy to read format. The CCR summarizes information that your water system already collects to comply with Federal and State (TCEQ) regulations. It includes information about the source(s) of water used (i.e., rivers, lakes, reservoirs, or aquifers), chemical contaminants, bacteriological contaminants, compliance with drinking water rules, educational health information, water system contact information and public participation opportunities. TCEQ requirements for the CCR can be found in 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 290 Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format icon Subchapter H: Consumer Confidence Reports

The TCEQ requires every community public water system to provide a CCR to their customers by July 1 of every year, 30 TAC §290.274(a), which includes information from the previous calendar year. These reports are also known as annual water quality reports or drinking water quality reports. Water systems designated as non-community are not required to provide CCRs.

Each community PWS is responsible for ensuring that the report has been distributed and that the information in the report is correct and consistent with the compliance monitoring data previously submitted to the TCEQ, 30 TAC §290.274(c). The water system shall make its CCR available to the public upon request, 30 TAC §290.274(e).

Drinking water wholesale systems are systems that sell or provide water to other water systems (the receiving system is often referred to as the consecutive or purchasing system). Under the CCR Rule, a wholesale system must deliver relevant monitoring and compliance data to all consecutive community water systems before CCRs are due to customers so that the consecutive system has lead-time to prepare a CCR. Wholesale systems must provide the information to the consecutive community system no later than April 1 of every year, 30 TAC §290.274(g). Wholesale systems are not responsible for creating the report for the consecutive community system, nor are they responsible for providing data on contaminants that the consecutive system monitors (such as total coliform, lead, or DBPs). In some cases, however, a consecutive community system will contract with the wholesale system to produce the report. Regardless of who produces the report, the consecutive system is still responsible for ensuring that its customers receive a report containing all required content.

For more information on the CCR, you may email PWSCCR@tceq.texas.gov or call the Drinking Water Technical Review Team at 512/239-4691. When you contact the TCEQ please make sure that you reference the PWS Name and ID number.