Reporting to Your Customers

 

What US EPA and your State Require
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments instituted new ‘right-to-know’ provisions that require water systems to communicate with the public about the quality of their water. Systems must distribute annual Consumer Confidence Reports (also known as water quality reports) as well as issue a public notification in circumstances where monitoring indicates a problem. The Quick Reference Guides below provide an overview of the specific requirements for each rule.

 US EPA Resources

State-by-State Resources
To find your state program’s website for additional regulatory requirements, visit this index from the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators.


Tools for Complying with the ‘Right-to-Know’ Rules
Compliance with this rules doesn’t have to be tricky, with all of the helpful materials available. The iWriter tools from US EPA do a bulk of the legwork for you and we’ve compiled a set of the most useful templates and guidance documents that would apply in most situations. Of course, it’s always best to check and see if your state has more specific requirements.

Consumer Confidence Report Rule

 Public Notification Rule

Record Keeping

State-by-State Resources
SmallWaterSupply.org indexes many state-specific guidance documents, forms and templates in our searchable document database.


Communication in Emergency Situations
When a hurricane or flood disables the drinking water supply or contamination otherwise occurs unexpectedly, it’s important to be ready with emergency information. Customers will want to know what sources are safe to drink and if possible, how they can disinfect their own water on a temporary basis.

Resources


Best Practices in Voluntary Communication
Developing and maintaining good relationships with customers involves more that meeting minimal regulatory requirements. It’s an ongoing process involving education about the value of public water and transparency about the needs and challenges of the water system. Voluntary communication practices can help garner public support for infrastructure improvements and rate changes. Proactive communication also helps alleviate concerns when water issues are raised in them media.

Resources

How We Can Help

While federal laws don’t require small systems to post their CCRs on the internet, it’s definitely a best practice for good communication with your customers. The internet is also often a mechanism your state will accept as a “good faith” effort to inform non-paying customers.

At SmallWaterSupply.org, we can help you format your CCR for displaying on the web and even host it on our site for you. To request our help, call us at 1-866-522-2681 or send an email to info@smallwatersupply.org

 

Small System Reports