The Revised CCR Rule: Changes, Deadlines, and Next Steps

Compliance webinars can get theoretical pretty fast, but this one didn't.

Our February session paired regulatory context with a genuinely practical playbook for verifying unknown service lines, backed by a technical assistance program that has already identified over 20,000 service lines across three states and a field contractor with thousands of inspections under his belt.

Here's what stood out.

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A quick regulatory refresher

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) status has not changed since our last recap: 

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the rule. 
• The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is still challenging it in court.
• The EPA still plans to defend the rule as written.

The advice is the same too: Prepare for LCRI compliance as if the rule holds since the baseline service line inventory deadline, November 1, 2027, is approaching fast.

One update worth flagging: five states (Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York) currently treat connector material as something that does affect service line classification, unlike most states where it doesn't. If you're in one of those states, it's worth checking.

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Verification is a project, not a task.

The bulk of the session made a simple but important point: Treating lead service line verification like a single to-do item is exactly how it goes sideways.

One utility's do-it-yourself attempt got through 30 addresses in two weeks, with data scribbled on paper that was barely legible by the time it made it back to the office. Not exactly audit-ready.

The alternative is to treat it like any other capital project, broken into three phases:

1. What you know before you start
2. The actual fieldwork
3. What happens with the data afterward

Most of the payoff comes from phase one. The more due diligence done up front – records review, customer surveys, tracking down materials already documented from unrelated projects like meter change-outs – the fewer expensive digs are needed later.

Statistical analysis and predictive modeling both showed up again here as ways to shrink that inspection pool, with a rule of thumb for choosing between them:

• Statistical analysis works well when a system has no known lead service lines or galvanized requiring replacement (GRR).
• Predictive modeling picks up once some lead service lines or GRR have already been found.
  

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Choosing verification tools and contractors

A geographic information system (GIS) came up as the recommended way to manage field data, both for its accessibility to field crews and its ability to feed a dedicated water data platform for reporting and dashboards. A live example showed how a simple red-to-green dot system can track inspection progress across an entire project.

Contractor selection got real talk too. The advice: look past the local guy who fixes leaks and installs service lines, and vet specifically for experience with this kind of verification work, GIS compatibility, and a willingness to work without constant utility oversight.

A signed statement of work covering responsibilities, deliverables, pricing, and timeline was called out as a must, not a nice-to-have, so expectations stay aligned from the start.

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What verification actually looks like in the field

The session's field contractor walked through what a typical inspection day looks like, from routing crews (harder than it sounds in an unfamiliar system) to reading the room during kickoff meetings (staff who know their system inside and out make everything run more smoothly).

GPS points and photo documentation from every inspection were highlighted as the backbone of defensible data, which matters if records ever face regulatory scrutiny.

Customer communication came up as its own art form. Timing mailers and social posts too early means people forget; too late means confused customers calling the police on a crew standing near their meter box. A few real examples of both extremes made the case for planning your LCRI communications strategy early.

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Watch the Full Session

We discussed many more important verification topics, including:

Funding options, inspection method tradeoffs (meter pit versus potholing versus hydrovac), documentation strategies, and a full Q&A covering everything from access agreements to lead service line replacement plans when a homeowner owns the entire service line.

Want the full session? Watch the webinar replay here.

The 2026 AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE)

From June 21-24, more than 10,000 water professionals from 40 countries attended AWWA’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exposition. Under the theme “Water Heroes,” the conference honored water professionals who work behind the scenes to help deliver safe drinking water to communities every day.

Outgoing President Heather Collins challenged the water community to move beyond invisibility, saying the workforce that keeps water flowing deserves to be seen, understood, and appreciated.

The conference concluded with a gavel-passing ceremony as Brent Tippey — a nearly 30-year veteran of the water sector — assumed the AWWA presidency from Collins.

Tippey said the water community needs AWWA’s 145-year unbroken legacy of leadership in technical content, knowledge exchange, and regulatory engagement now more than ever.

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Inside the Program: The Conversations Shaping the Water Sector

ACE26 comprised 215 educational sessions spanning 23 tracks. The following list highlights the most popular tracks by session count.

• Intelligent Water (22 sessions)
  Data, AI, and smart systems are no longer emerging themes but the defining direction of the water sector.

• Water Utility Management (14 sessions)
  Reflects the enduring operational complexity of running modern utilities.

• Advances in Water Treatment (14 sessions):
  Addresses the foundational science and technology utilities need to meet evolving water quality demands.

• Infrastructure Management (12 sessions):
  Underscores the urgency utilities face in addressing aging systems amid growing capital constraints.

• Water Resources Planning, Protection and Management (10 sessions):
  Speaks to mounting pressures around supply reliability amid climate variability and growing demand.

• Financial, Management, and Legal (10 sessions)
  Reflects the complex pressures on rates, funding, and regulatory compliance utilities must navigate.

• Reuse (9 sessions)
  Signals the continued rise of reuse as a mainstream supply strategy rather than a niche alternative.

• Water Education and Workforce (8 sessions)
  Reflects growing industry concern over the talent pipeline needed to operate increasingly complex systems.

• The Latest on Lead and Copper (8 sessions)
  Driven by sweeping compliance demands of the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), the most significant lead rule update in decades.

•  Research (8 sessions)
  Captures the sector's need to translate emerging science into actionable practice for utilities.

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120Water at ACE26

120Water had a strong presence on the expo floor. Our team connected with water utilities, consultants, and regulators from across the country.

Our booth showcased 120Water solutions for water quality and asset compliance. These tools help water systems connect data, save time and money, and improve compliance.

Conversations at the booth reflected the urgency utilities feel as regulatory deadlines approach and reinforced why a centralized water data platform matters more than ever.

National Collaborative Honors Excellence in Lead Pipe Replacement

Timed to coincide with ACE26, the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative marked its 10th anniversary by recognizing 16 people and programs for excellence in lead service line replacement. The awards ranged from technical efficiency and fiscal savvy to community engagement and equitable access.

Among the honorees were three 120Water customers:

• Denver Water’s Lead Reduction Program – Recognized for outstanding leadership across multiple categories
• Greeley, Colorado’s Lead Protection Program – Excellence in Community Engagement
• The Wilmington Water Lead Reduction Program – Fiscal Savvy and Funding Innovation

With over 4 million lead service lines still connected to water systems nationwide, the awards highlight utility-led collaboration. 120Water is proud to support this work as customers advance LCRI compliance and lead-reduction programs.

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Looking Ahead: WaterPro 2026 in Phoenix

With ACE26 now in the books, the 120Water team is already looking ahead to the next major event. 

Widely known as the “Industry Event of the Year” for rural and small water systems, NRWA WaterPro will be held September 14–16, 2026. The conference will take place at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

120Water will be on the WaterPro show floor in September, and we look forward to connecting with you. We will share more information soon about our booth location and how to find us at the show. Keep up with 120Water updates on our LinkedIn page and in our monthly newsletter.

In the meantime, learn more about how we help water systems of all sizes navigate today’s compliance landscape. Contact our team at 120water.com/contact to discuss your system's needs.

Water utility executives are facing a paradox. Their teams have more data than ever. They have sampling results, service line records, lab reports, and regulatory submissions.

Yet many leaders still cannot answer a simple question: Are we on track?

That gap between having data and acting on it costs utilities. It hurts efficiency, raises compliance risk, drives staff burnout, and weakens community trust.

The good news: the utilities closing that gap are not bigger or better funded than yours. They chose to modernize how they manage water quality compliance programs, and the results are measurable.

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The Real Reason Utilities Fall Behind

This is not a technology problem as much as it is a capacity problem compounded by fragmentation.

Consider the scale of the challenge:

In the U.S., 85% of water utilities have three or fewer employees. 

Yet these small teams manage complex sampling programs, service line inventories, regulatory submissions, and public communications. Often, they do this across disconnected spreadsheets, paper records, and siloed databases.

One in three utilities face a compliance violation in any given year. Dig into those numbers, and most violations are not about water quality. They are about administrative failures.

Someone filed a report late. A public notice did not go out on time. Data sat in different places, but people couldn’t pull it together fast enough.

The problem is not a lack of effort. The systems couldn’t handle this volume of work because no one built them for it, and regulatory requirements keep growing.

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Four Stages of Operational Maturity: Where Does Your Utility Stand?

Through years of work with over 8,000 utilities and 7 state agencies, 120Water has seen a clear pattern. 

Utilities often evolve their operations in similar ways. Most organizations move through four stages.

Stage 1: Overwhelmed. 

Data is fragmented or nonexistent, and teams are reactive to regulatory demands. No single source of truth exists.

Stage 2: Reactive. 

Data exists but lives in silos, and reporting is manual and time-consuming. Staff are aware of the gaps but lack the right water data platform to close them.

Stage 3: Proactive.

A single platform centralizes programs, and teams hold clear accountability. Data flows between functions and connects directly to both regulatory reporting and public communications.

Stage 4: Predictive.

Teams can integrate historical data, infrastructure records, and program outcomes so they can anticipate needs. That way they can model scenarios and stay ahead of compliance deadlines.

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What Moving Up the Curve Actually Looks Like

These stages are not theoretical. Here is what the progression looks like for real utilities.

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From overwhelmed to reactive: Valley Rural Utility Company

Valley Rural came to 120Water with more than 25% of their service line inventory listed as unknown, meaning no data and no starting point. By creating a clear digital verification process, they reduced the number of unknown service lines. 

They used the platform to filter and rank the unknowns. In under a year, the total unknown service lines dropped from 661 to 26.

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From reactive to proactive: Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln manages 93,000+ service lines across multiple material types. Annual resident notifications were manual and time-consuming. After they centralized their data on one water data platform, notifications now go out automatically. Each line segment uses the correct template.

That data goes straight to a public dashboard, so residents and regulators can track the program in real time.

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From proactive to predictive: El Paso, Texas

El Paso entered 2025 with 130,000 unknown service lines and a 2027 LCRI (Lead and Copper Rule Improvements) compliance deadline. Instead of costly physical inspections, 120Water worked with the city to use predictive modeling. 

They used historical records, construction-era data, and neighborhood indicators. El Paso's unknown service lines dropped from 130,000 to fewer than 13,000, with no additional field visits for the reclassified lines. The result was an estimated savings of approximately $50,000.

Explore El Paso Water's full story here.

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The Pressure Is Only Going to Increase

The forces pushing utilities toward modernization are not slowing down:

• Aging infrastructure is a growing problem
• Lead and copper rule requirements are tightening
• PFAS programs create new responsibilities
• Cybersecurity mandates demand extra time and resources
• Demographic shifts can shrink rate bases.

Each new requirement puts additional strain on teams that already work at full capacity.

The utilities navigating this well share a common trait. They stopped treating each regulation as a separate problem.

They started building a connected data foundation. This lets utilities report to regulators and communicate to residents. Which means they no longer rebuild their workflow from scratch each time.

That foundation is what separates proactive utilities from those that are perpetually reactive.

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Where to Start

The most common question we hear from utility executives is: where do we begin?

The honest answer is this: start with your biggest pain point. Work with a partner who helps you build for the long term, not just this quarter.

Whether you still use spreadsheets or run a digital program with gaps, the goal is the same:

You need water compliance software that keeps all data in one platform. It should automate reporting workflows and link your public communications. Then your team can focus on work that actually needs human judgment.

120Water works with utilities at every stage of this journey. To see what the path forward looks like for your system specifically, let’s talk.

See how 120Water helps utilities move from reactive to proactive. Schedule a demo at 120water.com/contact to start the conversation.