Water utilities across the nation are approaching an inflection point in their efforts to balance compliance, communication and community trust. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent revisions to the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) Rule will reshape how water utilities provide consumers with more insight into their everyday operations.
By 2027, every system serving more than 10,000 customers will be required to deliver water quality reports twice a year: reports that are easier to read, reach more people in a way that meets each community’s distinct needs and are designed to improve public understanding of what’s in their water.
Every water utility is approaching this differently. STV’s outreach and engagement strategies team partners with public agencies and utilities nationwide to help them navigate these kinds of transitions.
For water systems already managing lead service line replacement programs and PFAS monitoring, as well as the day-to-day challenges of maintaining and upgrading water infrastructure, the new CCR rules can feel like one more regulatory sprint. Reframing this moment means seeing the opportunity to rethink how communication can better serve the community and educate people on the value of the important water services they receive.
Compliance is the minimum. Connection is the goal.
The community members reading these reports are the same people turning on the tap every day. And yet, for many utilities, the only time they engage with their customers is through a water bill, disruption, rate increase or a service notice. When communication is limited to those moments, it can create anxiety. But when utilities employ proactive outreach and storytelling that highlight stewardship, science and service, they help communities see the full picture of the work being done to keep their water safe. This means choosing to communicate as neighbors, with language barriers, literacy rates and information access in mind.
Defining “access” for CCRs necessitates a closer examination of how communities locate and comprehend information. Readability is about more than just language translation – it’s about literacy and accessible design. With one in five adults in the United States living with functional illiteracy, visual storytelling tools like infographics can help simplify the required CCR summary sections, enabling this information to resonate more effectively with a modern audience.
Beyond digital distribution, utilities can strengthen community connections by partnering with libraries, schools, and community centers to make CCRs more visible through displays, pop-up information booths or short videos. Engaging parent-teacher associations, senior centers and student groups, meeting people where they are, can transform compliance into building an informed, trusting public.
The Stakes (and the Opportunity) for Water Utilities
There are converging pressures on utilities to act fast and communicate effectively. Many are still building the data and systems they need to meet new requirements, including twice yearly water reports and digital delivery standards. Others are determining how to resource and staff the outreach this effort the CCR requirements demand.
That’s where strategy matters. It takes time to build a thoughtful communications approach, train teams on talking points and coordinate across departments and agencies to address customer concerns with respect, dignity and empathy. Water communication is no longer a siloed function. It’s a community-building function.
By treating drinking water, wastewater, water resources and resource recovery as interconnected systems, collaborating across sectors allows utilities to communicate a unified, One Water story of a shared, essential, environmental resource.
Every public notice, customer service call and field interaction is a touchpoint that shapes the community’s relationship with their utility provider. When handled well, they reinforce public confidence and civic pride. How we show up with outreach in our communities during these transitions, if managed well, is a minor disruption. If not, it can impact a customer’s entire day.
By taking the opportunity to provide context on what is performed in the lab and in the field, we can transform customer experience for the better.
Helping Shape The Water Story
At STV, our outreach and engagement strategies team guides clients through the moments that matter most: helping them balance regulatory accuracy with clear, human-centered storytelling. We provide customer experience mapping, develop community engagement strategies and design visual communication tools that make complex information accessible and actionable. Since we understand both the infrastructure and the audience it serves, we’re collaborating directly with our firm’s engineers, planners and water quality specialists to support clarity and accuracy, translating technical information into everyday language.
By reframing compliance as an engagement opportunity and regulations as relationship-building, utilities can transform how communities experience and deliver their most essential service.
Because when it comes to public trust, every interaction counts, and every touchpoint is a chance to show stewardship in action.
