Water quality reports are crucial for building trust with customers, but many don't get read or understood.
There are free tools and resources available to create clear and engaging water quality reports.
New regulations coming in 2027 aim to improve readability and allow for more flexibility in presentation.
When you think about it, water quality is a water systems’ essential function. It’s the main way customers judge their water provider, or at least, it’s a close second to customer service. But, we often find that this report is the only time during the year that a water system proactively communicates about its water quality. What if customers don’t see the report? Or they see it but don’t read it? Or they read it, but don’t understand it? Did it fulfill its mission of building consumer confidence in their tap water?
I wrote in an AWWA Journal article in 2023 that while the goal of these reports has been to increase public confidence in tap water, it’s unclear whether that goal is being realized. The research does not provide a definitive answer. A 2021 Penn State Study concluded that 60 million Americans are not drinking tap water due to a decline in trust in drinking water quality and safety, while AWWA’s annual Morning Consult study shows that trust in tap water is highly correlated with communications about it. The trick is having a CCR and a water quality communications program that customers read, recall, and understand.
If your water system struggles with this, Raftelis can help. Members of our team of communicators have been working on CCRs since they were first required in 1998. In addition to helping many large and small systems with their CCRs, our staff has helped AWWA issue guidance on meeting the CCR Rule; we have won an award for reimagining the CCR with more accessible language; we have created templates that are free and publicly available in cooperation with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) and funding from AWWA; and we have developed a water quality communications toolkit to help water systems build out a year-round effort to communicate about their water quality, which in turn, builds trust. Here’s a little more about each project:
In 2020, the Environmental Policy and Innovation Center (EPIC) launched its first Water Data Prize competition aimed at improving and reimagining CCRs. More than 30 entries were submitted from consultants, water agencies, data scientists, and others, and EPIC awarded $15,000 to five stellar entries. Raftelis took first place for an entry that demonstrated accessible language and design. EPIC hosted a workshop with more than 75 participants from diverse water disciplines to solicit more ideas and input on how to turn the ideas from the entries into action. Highlights from the top submissions were captured in this report and interactive website.
Building on the 2020 Water Data Prize and with support from AWWA, in 2021, EPIC focused on creating an actual tool that water utilities could use to communicate annual water quality data. The top Water Data Prize Winner in 2020, Raftelis, won a competitive proposal to develop a CCR template for EPIC, with an esteemed committee of reviewers from utilities, nonprofits, and the regulatory community. Raftelis’ solutions included two templates, in Microsoft Word and a digital version in Squarespace, that are available for free to all utilities at EPIC’s website.
The intent is that these two templates—along with an instruction manual—will help public water systems create a CCR that’s clearer, more engaging, and more accessible to broader audiences by following these simple principles:
The Virginia Health Catalyst has a mission of ensuring all Virginians have equitable access to comprehensive health care that includes oral health. Knowing the impact that clean, safe tap water can have on oral health, Virginia Health Catalyst hired Raftelis to create a Water Quality Communications Toolkit for Virginia water systems to help them build awareness across the state of the value and safety of their tap water. This toolkit is comprehensive and applicable to water systems nationwide. It recognizes that the CCR alone cannot carry the weight of all water communications. Rather, it must be a year-round pursuit.
In March 2023, EPA proposed new rules for the CCR, introducing seven specific new CCR requirements:
In May 2024, EPA issued its final rule, which take effect in 2027. The changes included in the final rule are:
Here are all the changes that made it into the final rule.
While this year’s CCR is on its way to customers, reach out to our team to learn how we can help with next year’s CCR. We can provide:
Contact Sam Villegas (svillegas@raftelis.com) to set up a consultation.