How to Find Your Consumer Confidence Report

Every community water system in Delaware must publish an annual CCR under the state's Consumer Confidence Report Rule. Here's how to find the current one for your exact system.

Public water

Short answer: Once you know your exact system (see Find Your Water System), check your utility's website or Drinking Water Watch for a link to the current CCR, then confirm the report year before reading it.

Who this is for: anyone who has identified their Delaware water system and now wants to read its current water-quality report.

What Delaware requires

Under 16 Del. C. § 4462 and Delaware's public-water requirements, community public water systems prepare and distribute an annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), generally by July 1. The report must identify the system, summarize detected regulated contaminants, describe violations or enforcement actions when applicable, and provide contact information. Delaware's Office of Drinking Water CCR page explains the state process and links to current reporting resources.

The CCR is a system-level disclosure, not a test of an individual kitchen tap. Use it to understand the water system and decide what question comes next; use a certified laboratory or utility sampling program for address-specific concerns.

Delaware utility report starting points

Artesian publishes separate Delaware water-quality reports, including system-specific reports such as Delaware City. Newark publishes a municipal report, while Dover and Wilmington are separate Drinking Water Watch systems. Veolia Water Delaware and Tidewater Utilities also require the exact system name and PWSID before you choose a report. Start with the live record, then match the report's service area and year to your address.

Step-by-step

Confirm your exact system name and PWSID using Drinking Water Watch.
Check your utility's official website for a "Water Quality Report" or "CCR" page.
If you can't find it there, check the Drinking Water Watch record for your system, which may link to the report.
Confirm the report year and distribution date printed on the document.
If the report is more than about a year old, contact the utility to ask whether a newer one has been issued.

How to use a CCR before buying treatment

Use the CCR to identify the system, source, regulated contaminants, detected ranges, and treatment or compliance notes. It describes system-level monitoring; it does not guarantee that every home's tap matches the reported average. Lead can be affected by household plumbing, and taste or odor can change after water leaves the main. If a CCR points to a contaminant that matters to your household, verify the product's certification and whether point-of-use or whole-house treatment is appropriate.

Delaware report traps

Artesian publishes multiple reports; match the report name to the exact system.
Newark, Dover, Wilmington, Veolia, and Tidewater are not interchangeable system names.
A report year is not the same as the date a sample was collected.
An interconnection or purchased-water note can explain why a system's source profile changes.

Common mistakes

Reading a CCR for a similarly named system in a different town
Not checking the report year before treating it as current
Confusing a CCR update with a lead service line inventory update

How to read the useful parts first

Confirm the report name, service area, PWSID, and report year.
Read the source-water and treatment description before interpreting a detected value.
Separate an MCL, MRDL, action level, secondary standard, and laboratory reporting limit.
Look for monitoring notes explaining when a result is from an earlier sample year.
Check the utility contact and public-notice section for questions the table cannot answer.

A CCR is a system-level report, not a household tap guarantee. Lead can come from service lines or interior plumbing, while taste can change after water enters a building. Use the CCR to choose the next question or test, not to skip address-specific troubleshooting.

Report year versus sample year

Many CCR tables include results from more than one sampling year because some contaminants are monitored less frequently when levels remain stable. Read the footnotes before describing a value as a current result. If your concern is a recent taste change, a current utility notice or customer-service response may be more relevant than an older table row.

When a report links to a separate lead-service-line inventory or PFAS notice, read that document too. It may answer a different question from the CCR and may use different dates, sampling locations, or definitions.

Save the report URL and date reviewed with your household records.

Official sources

Delaware Consumer Confidence Report Rule and ODW resources
Delaware Code, Title 16, Chapter 1, public-water reporting provisions
Delaware Drinking Water Watch
ODW CCR data and report readme
Your utility's official website

What if my utility hasn't posted a CCR online?

Contact the utility directly and request the current report. Community water systems are required to make their CCR available to customers even if it isn't posted online.

This page provides general educational information and is not regulatory advice.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Report a correction.