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| Rural Water Association of Arizona
feature
T
he Consumer Confidence Rule requires public water
suppliers that serve the same people year round
(
community water systems) to provide consumer
confidence reports (CCR) to their customers. These reports are
also known as annual water quality reports or drinking water
quality reports. The remaining public water systems in the U.S.
are not required to provide CCRs, because they do not serve
the same people on a day-to-day basis throughout the year.
The CCR summarizes information regarding sources used (i.e.,
rivers, lakes, reservoirs, or aquifers) any detected contaminants,
compliance and educational information. The reports are due
to customers by July 1
st
of each year.
Community water systems are public water systems that have at
least 15 service connections or regularly serve at least 25 year-
round residents.
This information will supplement public notification that
water systems must provide to their customers upon discovering
any violation of a contaminant standard. This annual report
should not be the primary notification of potential health risks
posed by drinking water, but will provide customers with water
quality information from the previous calendar year.
The first reports were due October 1, 1999, and the reports
must be distributed to consumers by July 1 each year thereafter.
This rule affects approximately 53,000 water systems, and the
information in the reports reaches some 273 million people
nationwide. Large water systems mail the water quality reports
to their customers, either with water bills or as a separate
mailing, and take steps to get the information to people who
do not receive water bills. Some smaller water systems (those
serving fewer than 10,000 people) may be able to distribute
the information through newspapers or by other means. The
largest water systems must post their reports on the Internet,
in addition to other delivery mechanisms, to make the reports
easily accessible to all consumers. EPA will work with smaller
systems to help get their reports online.
In Arizona some systems have not completed their CCR reports
and RWAA would like to help out so if your system would
like more information or assistance please contact Rural Water
Association of Arizona. We can provide the template and/or
on-site assistance at no charge.
Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR)
Did You Know?
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of toilet paper