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For a U.S. community public water system, the report to check is its Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), also called an annual drinking-water quality report. Start with the report year and the water system named on it. For each contaminant, read the reported result alongside its units, the MCL, the MCLG, the compliance status, and any explanatory note. Radium and uranium use different units and standards, so their bare numbers cannot be compared directly.
First, make sure you have the right kind of report
A CCR describes a community public water system: where its water comes from, which regulated contaminants were detected and at what levels, potential health effects, and how results compare with standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says community water systems are required to provide customers a CCR each year by July 1. The report year and utility name matter: a federal standard is not a measurement of your particular tap, and one system’s results do not establish another system’s water quality.
This guide is about public-system CCRs, not bottled-water labels or private-well test results. If your water comes from a private well, a public utility’s CCR does not report the well’s water quality; consult your state or local health authority about testing appropriate to your well.
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How to read a contaminant row
- Find the contaminant and reported result. Note whether the table gives one value, a highest detected level, a range, or another reporting measure. Read any footnote that explains the sampling period or calculation.
- Check the units before comparing values. Compare the result with its standard only in matching units. CCR tables generally show the result and MCL in the same units, but units differ across contaminants.
- Read both the MCL and MCLG. The EPA defines the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) as “The highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.” It is an enforceable standard. The Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) is “The level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health.” It is a health goal, not an enforceable limit.
- Check compliance or violation status. The number, the system’s compliance status, and the report’s health-effects note answer different questions. Do not infer a violation solely from a number without reading the table’s notes and status.
- Read the health-effects and source notes. They provide context for what a result means and how the contaminant can enter the water. A detection by itself does not establish an immediate health effect.
Radium, uranium, and other radionuclide measures
EPA’s regulated-contaminant table lists these federal standards. The figures below are standards, not measurements for any particular water system. The CCR table source was published in 2015; EPA’s radionuclides rule page was current when accessed in 2026.
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| Contaminant or measure | Federal standard in the EPA table | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Combined radium-226 and radium-228 | 5 pCi/L | Read the system’s reported result in pCi/L and compare it with this MCL; use the compliance field and report notes for the system’s status. |
| Uranium | 30 µg/L (30 ppb in the EPA CCR table) | Read the uranium result in µg/L or the equivalent ppb notation shown by the report, then compare it with this MCL. |
| Alpha emitters | 15 pCi/L | A separate radionuclide measure; it is not a substitute for the uranium result. |
| Beta/photon emitters | 4 mrem/year | A separate measure with different units from the concentration values above. |
Do not compare radium’s number with uranium’s number as if they were on a shared scale: radium is reported in picocuries per liter (pCi/L), while uranium is reported as a mass concentration in micrograms per liter (µg/L). EPA’s radionuclides rule page states that the alpha standard does not include radon and uranium. A gross alpha result therefore is not a direct replacement for a uranium value in µg/L.
EPA’s regulated-contaminant table describes potential effects in the context of drinking water above the MCL over many years. It says that some people who drink water containing radium-226 or radium-228 above the MCL over many years may have an increased risk of cancer. For uranium above the MCL over many years, EPA identifies possible increased risk of cancer and kidney toxicity. Those statements describe the agency’s health-effects framing; they do not mean that every detection causes an immediate health effect.
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What a range, a missing row, or a detection can tell you
Ranges and reported values
A result and a range are monitoring and reporting information, not a personal exposure estimate. EPA guidance explains that a report may show a highest detected level and a range when compliance is based on multiple samples. Sampling periods and compliance calculations vary, so use the report’s explanation to understand what its figures represent rather than treating a single value as a complete record of every moment at your tap.
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If a contaminant does not appear in the detected-contaminant table, that does not prove its concentration is absolutely zero. EPA guidance distinguishes contaminants reported as detections from those not detected or found below the applicable detection limit. Additional or voluntary monitoring information may also appear elsewhere in a report.
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What to do if the report shows a violation
Read the violation notice and any utility explanation, then contact the water system for information about the affected period and the status described in the report. For a real exceedance, contact the relevant state drinking-water authority as well. State requirements may differ from or be more protective than federal requirements. A row in a CCR alone is not enough to choose a treatment device or prescribe a response for a particular household.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Limits of this guide
Federal CCR guidance helps readers interpret public-system reports, but it does not determine bottled-water label requirements, establish private-well sampling instructions, or provide results for a specific utility. Local system data, sampling schedules, reporting practices, and applicable state rules matter. For water outside a community public system, seek information specific to that water source and jurisdiction.
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