Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) in drinking water
7,623 active public water systems in 51 states had a Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) violation in the past three years, and 7,203 had one in the latest quarter of EPA's data.
You are on Tapcensus, an independent guide to the EPA compliance records of every public water system in the United States. This page explains Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and lists the water systems whose records include a related violation. It does not show measured levels.
Is Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) in the records for your water system?
Enter a ZIP code, town, or street address to see the water systems that serve your area, their status, and which rules and contaminants appear in their violations.
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What it is and where it comes from
The 1991 LCR uses action levels rather than MCLs: if the 90th percentile of high-risk tap samples exceeds 15 ppb lead or 1.3 mg/L copper, the system must take escalating corrective actions. Violations typically indicate failure to maintain adequate corrosion control — the treatment that keeps lead from leaching out of pipes, solder, and fixtures.
Health effects
Lead: no safe level for children. Causes irreversible neurological damage, impaired cognitive development, behavioral problems, and reduced IQ in children under 6. In adults: hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney damage. Copper: acute gastrointestinal distress at high levels; liver/kidney damage at very high chronic levels.
The standard and what a violation means
EPA limit: Action levels: lead 15 ppb, copper 1.3 mg/L — 90th percentile of tap samples at high-risk sites.
Water systems with a Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) violation, by state
Active public water systems that reported at least one related violation to EPA in the past three years. Each state links to the list of its affected systems.
| State | Systems with violations, 3 yr | Share of active systems | In violation, latest quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 875 | 12% | 760 |
| Florida | 609 | 12% | 608 |
| New Jersey | 450 | 13% | 314 |
| North Carolina | 423 | 8% | 422 |
| California | 405 | 5% | 404 |
| Michigan | 344 | 3% | 331 |
| New York | 280 | 3% | 272 |
| Illinois | 278 | 5% | 278 |
| Idaho | 229 | 11% | 229 |
| Pennsylvania | 226 | 3% | 226 |
| Louisiana | 225 | 19% | 217 |
| West Virginia | 216 | 28% | 216 |
| Missouri | 196 | 7% | 196 |
| Kansas | 168 | 18% | 168 |
| Arizona | 162 | 9% | 159 |
| Massachusetts | 158 | 10% | 157 |
| Oregon | 150 | 6% | 141 |
| Indiana | 144 | 4% | 137 |
| Colorado | 138 | 6% | 125 |
| Oklahoma | 133 | 10% | 132 |
| Maine | 129 | 7% | 116 |
| Connecticut | 123 | 5% | 122 |
| Montana | 122 | 5% | 122 |
| Alaska | 118 | 9% | 118 |
| New Mexico | 110 | 10% | 110 |
| Washington | 109 | 2% | 107 |
| Wisconsin | 103 | 1% | 97 |
| Ohio | 88 | 2% | 38 |
| Vermont | 88 | 7% | 85 |
| Mississippi | 71 | 6% | 71 |
| South Carolina | 70 | 5% | 69 |
| Georgia | 65 | 3% | 65 |
| Minnesota | 65 | 1% | 45 |
| Alabama | 58 | 10% | 58 |
| Maryland | 58 | 2% | 56 |
| Iowa | 56 | 3% | 55 |
| Utah | 54 | 5% | 54 |
| Delaware | 52 | 11% | 52 |
| Virginia | 51 | 2% | 49 |
| North Dakota | 38 | 10% | 38 |
| Rhode Island | 32 | 7% | 32 |
| Tennessee | 30 | 4% | 30 |
| Wyoming | 27 | 3% | 27 |
| Arkansas | 24 | 2% | 24 |
| New Hampshire | 20 | 1% | 20 |
| Nevada | 16 | 3% | 16 |
| Nebraska | 15 | 1% | 15 |
| Kentucky | 10 | 2% | 10 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 4% | 6 |
| South Dakota | 5 | 1% | 3 |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 7% | 1 |
Largest water systems with a Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) violation
The ten biggest systems, by people served, whose records include a related violation in the past three years.
| System | Serves | Status | Rules violated, 3 yr | Unresolved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cleveland Public Water System Cuyahoga County |
1,308,955 | 1 | 0 | |
|
Boston Water and Sewer Commission (mwra) Boston · Suffolk County |
675,647 | 1 | 1 | |
|
Central Alabama Water Birmingham · Jefferson County |
653,322 | 2 | 1 | |
|
Kansas City PWS Kansas City · Cass County |
553,295 | 1 | 1 | |
|
McWa Batavia (t), Brighton (t), Chili (t) and 30 more · Monroe County |
525,262 | 1 | 1 | |
|
ST Louis City PWS St. Louis · St. Louis city County |
304,709 | 2 | 0 | |
|
Charleston Water System (sc1010001) Charleston · Charleston County |
278,771 | 1 | 0 | |
|
Gilbert, Town of Gilbert · Maricopa County |
247,600 | 9 | 1 | |
|
Hialeah, City of Hialeah · Miami-Dade County |
238,000 | 3 | 1 | |
|
Liberty Utilities New York Lynbrook Hempstead (t), Lynbrook (v) · Nassau County |
220,000 | 1 | 0 |
About this data
A system is counted once if any of its violations in the past three years involved Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), including monitoring and reporting lapses. Rules violated and status in the systems table are for the whole system, not Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) alone. Counts cover active systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Source: the U.S. EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online system (ECHO), which publishes the federal Safe Drinking Water Information System. EPA's terms and values are shown as published. The records are from EPA's data refresh of Oct 7, 2026; EPA refreshes this data quarterly, and states report to EPA with a lag of three to six months, so the newest violations may not appear yet.