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Reading your reports

How to find your water utility and its public data

Updated · Written from EPA, NSF, CDC and maker documents, each linked at the end · How we decide what to say

Short answer

Your water bill names your utility. If you do not get a bill, or you are on a private well, ask your landlord or local health department. Each public water system has a PWS ID (such as NY7003493) that unlocks EPA records.

1. Check your water bill

The utility that bills you for water is usually the one that supplies it. The name on the bill is what to search for, for example “City of Springfield Water Department”. If water and sewer are billed by different agencies, use the water one.

2. Search by place on this site

Our pages are organized by state, county and utility: start at Browse by state. We cover utilities that serve at least 3,300 people and completed EPA’s UCMR 5 PFAS testing; smaller systems are in our open data when they have data.

3. Use the PWS ID

Every public water system has a Public Water System ID. In EPA’s data it is a two-character prefix followed by seven digits, such as NY7003493. Once you have your utility’s ID, you can search EPA’s SDWA data for its violations and lead and copper results, and our utility pages are built from the same files. Your Consumer Confidence Report lists the ID.

4. Read your CCR

Utilities must send customers a CCR by July 1 each year. If you cannot find yours, call the utility or use EPA’s CCR search tool (how to read it).

5. Ask when it is not obvious

  • Renters and apartments: the building may be billed by the landlord; ask the property manager which utility serves the building.
  • Bought water: some utilities buy water from a larger neighbor. The CCR names the source system.
  • Private well: you have no utility, no CCR, and the data on this site does not apply to you. EPA recommends testing a private well annually for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and more often under certain conditions. Use only a laboratory certified to do drinking water testing; your state certification program can list them (test options).

What you can learn once you have the name

  • Whether the utility has had health-based violations in the last five years.
  • The most recent lead and copper 90th-percentile result and when it was sampled.
  • PFAS and lithium results from UCMR 5 (2023 to 2025) for systems that tested.
  • Population served and water source (surface water, groundwater, or purchased).

Related guides

Sources

Not medical or legal advice. This guide summarizes public documents so you can ask better questions of your utility, your health department or a certified lab. For health concerns, talk to a clinician; for compliance questions, to your state drinking water program. Pages on this site that name products may earn a commission, as disclosed on the affiliate disclosure page.