Public Notification Rule in drinking water
10,051 active public water systems in 49 states had a Public Notification Rule violation in the past three years, and 10,051 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 Public Notification Rule and lists the water systems whose records include a related violation. It does not show measured levels.
Is Public Notification Rule 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
When a system violates a drinking water standard, it must notify customers promptly: within 24 hours for acute violations (e.g., E. coli), 30 days for non-acute MCL violations, and 1 year for monitoring failures. A violation means the notification was late or missing — not that the underlying water issue is necessarily severe.
Health effects
No direct health risk from the notification violation itself, but delayed notification means customers may have consumed contaminated water without the chance to take protective action (boil water orders, bottled water use).
The standard and what a violation means
EPA limit: No MCL — compliance requires meeting specific notification deadlines.
Water systems with a Public Notification Rule 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 | 1,694 | 23% | 1,694 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,265 | 17% | 1,265 |
| Illinois | 812 | 16% | 812 |
| Wisconsin | 719 | 7% | 719 |
| Ohio | 698 | 17% | 698 |
| Idaho | 423 | 21% | 423 |
| Maine | 399 | 21% | 399 |
| New Mexico | 388 | 34% | 388 |
| West Virginia | 347 | 45% | 347 |
| Connecticut | 272 | 12% | 272 |
| Colorado | 255 | 11% | 255 |
| North Carolina | 239 | 5% | 239 |
| Louisiana | 229 | 19% | 229 |
| Arizona | 222 | 13% | 222 |
| Missouri | 207 | 7% | 207 |
| Iowa | 156 | 9% | 156 |
| Georgia | 136 | 6% | 136 |
| Oregon | 136 | 5% | 136 |
| Arkansas | 128 | 13% | 128 |
| Tennessee | 120 | 16% | 120 |
| Virginia | 119 | 4% | 119 |
| Michigan | 109 | 1% | 109 |
| New York | 106 | 1% | 106 |
| Florida | 87 | 2% | 87 |
| New Jersey | 87 | 3% | 87 |
| New Hampshire | 83 | 3% | 83 |
| Indiana | 79 | 2% | 79 |
| Kansas | 79 | 8% | 79 |
| Mississippi | 75 | 6% | 75 |
| Minnesota | 70 | 1% | 70 |
| Vermont | 54 | 4% | 54 |
| Oklahoma | 46 | 4% | 46 |
| California | 40 | 1% | 40 |
| Alaska | 28 | 2% | 28 |
| Massachusetts | 28 | 2% | 28 |
| Rhode Island | 23 | 5% | 23 |
| Nevada | 17 | 3% | 17 |
| South Dakota | 15 | 2% | 15 |
| Kentucky | 12 | 3% | 12 |
| Washington | 11 | 0% | 11 |
| Alabama | 10 | 2% | 10 |
| North Dakota | 7 | 2% | 7 |
| Nebraska | 7 | 1% | 7 |
| Utah | 5 | 0% | 5 |
| Maryland | 3 | 0% | 3 |
| Hawaii | 2 | 1% | 2 |
| Montana | 2 | 0% | 2 |
| South Carolina | 1 | 0% | 1 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 0% | 1 |
Largest water systems with a Public Notification Rule 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Trenton Water Works Ewing Twp, Hamilton Twp, Hopewell Twp.1106- and 2 more · Mercer County |
217,000 | 8 | 2 | |
|
City of Midland Water Purification Plant Midland County |
157,000 | 3 | 1 | |
|
City of Pasadena Harris County |
152,000 | 1 | 1 | |
|
Mustang SUD Denton County |
127,911 | 3 | 1 | |
|
Wilkinsburg-Penn JT Water Auth Allegheny County |
125,000 | 3 | 0 | |
|
City of Odessa Ector County |
123,334 | 4 | 1 | |
|
Rio Rancho Water & WW Services Rio Rancho · Sandoval County |
107,350 | 2 | 1 | |
|
Racine Waterworks Racine · Racine County |
105,100 | 1 | 1 | |
|
Johnson City Water Dept Johnson City · Washington County |
105,057 | 1 | 1 | |
|
Ctwc Northern Reg-Western System East Granby, East Windsor, Ellington and 9 more · Hartford County |
101,313 | 1 | 1 |
About this data
A system is counted once if any of its violations in the past three years involved Public Notification Rule, including monitoring and reporting lapses. Rules violated and status in the systems table are for the whole system, not Public Notification Rule 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.