DES MOINES—Iowa’s public water systems deliver ample clean water, according to the 2020 Annual Drinking water Compliance Report.

Over the last 10 years, Iowa public drinking water facilities have increasingly complied with all health-based standards for water we drink. In 2020, 96.8 percent of public water supplies and a vast majority of people served by these facilities (98.9 percent) received drinking water that complied with state and national standards.  

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 last year, Iowa’s 1,848 public water systems produced safe drinking water for 98.9 percent of Iowans. In fact, the number of systems meeting all health-based standards was the highest in 25 years, since 1996. Both the percentage of systems (96.8 percent) and the percentage of population receiving drinking water compliant with all health-based standards were the highest achieved in the past 10 years.

Most systems (83.8 percent) met all major monitoring and reporting requirements, the best since 2014. Most important: last year, there were no disease outbreaks or deaths attributed to drinking water from an active public water supply.

Like a statewide report card, the annual compliance report measures how well nearly 1,900 public water supplies meet national standards. DNR gathers information from each public water supply to prepare the report, and then submits it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report includes maps of the public water supplies, and locations of systems that had violations of health-based standards, or major monitoring or reporting requirements.

People who want more information about their drinking water can ask their public water source for a Consumer Confidence Report. Public water sources must compile the reports, informing their customers and submitting the reports to DNR annually. The reports include any violation of standards for contaminants or reporting requirements.