Records currently available
Delaware record snapshot
These counts describe reviewed records available on Water Quality Lookup. They are not a count of every provider, city, or county in Delaware.
Reviewed profiles or limited identity records.
Local entry points, not service-area boundaries.
Guide sources reviewed September 13, 2026.
Cities
Delaware city entry points currently available
These Delaware city pages are local starting points. City boundaries and water service areas may not match, and more than one provider may serve a city.
Wilmington
Start with WILMINGTON WATER DEPARTMENT, then confirm the provider for your address.
Open WilmingtonNewark
Start with NEWARK WATER DEPARTMENT, then confirm the provider for your address.
Open NewarkLewes
Start with LEWES BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS, then confirm the provider for your address.
Open LewesWater systems
Delaware public water systems currently available
These previews link to reviewed system profiles with identifiers, report-year context, sources, and limitations.
WILMINGTON WATER DEPARTMENT
PWSID DE0000663 · Wilmington · Latest reviewed report 2025
View system profileNEWARK WATER DEPARTMENT
PWSID DE0000630 · Newark · Latest reviewed report 2025
View system profileLEWES BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
PWSID DE0000602 · Lewes · Latest reviewed report 2025
View system profileReport highlights
Three Delaware reports with important reading distinctions
Start with our selected report overviews, then use each provider's complete report for its tables and explanations. Original profile and report-review dates remain attached to the records.
Newark · 2026 edition
Keep the reporting year and PFAS wording in view
Newark's document is titled 2026 but describes 2025 monitoring, with individual rows that include other sampling periods. Our overview preserves those dates instead of treating the title as the year of every test.
The report includes numeric PFAS rows and a separate statement about no PFAS detection in surface-water-facility samples. That source inconsistency remains unresolved in our report context; we do not replace it with a blanket detection or compliance conclusion.
Lewes · 2026 edition
Read the lead row with its printed status
Lewes's 2026 edition describes the previous year's water quality. Its lead row contains a percentile, a range and sites over the action level alongside a printed Violation No label.
Our report context keeps those source values and labels together without reconciling them into a new compliance conclusion. An individual household's tap result is a separate question.
Wilmington · 2025 report
Separate entry-point results from distribution results
Wilmington organizes its report into distinct tables, including results at entry points to the distribution system and results within the distribution system. Its unregulated-contaminant table has a separate monitoring purpose.
Keep the table heading, sample period and reported measure attached to a result. An unregulated-monitoring reporting level is not interchangeable with an enforceable limit.
Continue your Delaware lookup
Use the system directory, a plain-language guide, or the methodology page for the next step.
System directory
Delaware public water systems
Browse the reviewed system profiles currently available for this state.
Browse systemsLookup guide
How to look up your drinking water system
Start with a utility bill, PWSID, state lookup tool, or official report so you can find the public water system behind a city or provider name.
Read the lookup guideReport guide
How to read a water quality report
A plain-English walkthrough of Consumer Confidence Reports, including report years, detected contaminants, legal limits, violations, and source notes.
Read the report guideData and trust
Sources, methodology, and limitations
See how records are sourced, reviewed, dated, and limited before using a summary.
Review methodologyStatewide context
How Delaware drinking-water information is divided
Oversight
Public-system monitoring and private-well testing are separate paths
Delaware Division of Public Health's Office of Drinking Water maintains public-system monitoring and compliance information. Its public-water supervision program covers system records, inspections, laboratory certification and consumer information.
Private-well owners use a separate public-health laboratory and DNREC pathway. A nearby utility's report cannot describe a private well.
Water sources
A source connection is different from service at a property
Newark's report describes White Clay Creek, a reservoir and groundwater wells. Its official system record separately lists source facilities and water purchases. These describe the water system, rather than proving which source supplied a particular address.
Confirm the provider from a bill or through the utility before choosing a report. A city name or a listed interconnection is insufficient on its own.
Record purpose
Drought guidance and drinking-water notices answer different questions
DNREC's conservation resources concern water availability and water use. Drinking-water quality records and notices have a different purpose.
The Office of Drinking Water also publishes annual compliance-report years and a public-notices page. The notices destination reviewed for this guide contains historical entries; it should not be treated as a complete live advisory list.
Official lookup
Find a Delaware system in Drinking Water Watch
System identity
Match the returned provider and PWSID
Delaware's form separates Water System No. from Water System Name. The official Newark detail record identifies DE0000630 as NEWARK WATER DEPARTMENT. The internal record key 341 in its URL is a different identifier.
Use the system name and PWSID together, and confirm the provider before applying the record to your property.
- Find the provider name on a bill or ask the provider to identify your system.
- For the Newark example, enter DE0000630 in Water System No., then choose Search For Water Systems.
- Compare the returned system name and PWSID before opening the detail record.
- Choose the record type you need, rather than treating system inventory, sample results and annual-report data as equivalent.
Sample filters
Choose the sample class and date range deliberately
The search form says sample searches use the last two years unless a date range is entered. It offers separate chemical/radiological all-sample and detection-only options, lead-and-copper summaries, and samples by analyte.
Check the class and period before interpreting a missing result. The state PFAS information page directs readers to Drinking Water Watch and notes that results are posted as they become available; an absent entry is not a zero result.
Official tools
Delaware resources for the next question
Annual reports
Find the provider copy and request the year you need
Delaware's annual-report guidance explains Consumer Confidence Reports and links guidance on source information, bacteria assessments and detected-contaminant reporting. The utility's report supplies the local reporting-period details.
If you cannot find a report or need another format or language, ask the provider for a usable copy and confirm which year it covers.
Current instructions
Check the provider and the notice dates
Use your provider's current communications to confirm any instructions affecting your property. Check the issue date, affected area, and whether a notice has been updated or lifted.
Wilmington maintains a utility alert destination; Lewes provides a water-issue contact route. The Office of Drinking Water can help with program questions. These sources have different scopes, and historical notices do not establish current conditions.
Check Wilmington utility alerts →
Lead and service lines
Use inventory information for the material question
The Office of Drinking Water links a public Lead Service Line Inventory transparency dashboard and separate lead-and-copper guidance. Pipe-material classifications and tap-water measurements are different records.
Ask your provider to explain an unknown or missing service-line entry and what it has recorded for each portion of the line. This page does not perform an address search or determine pipe material.
PFAS
Read results alongside their dated context
Delaware's PFAS information page points to Drinking Water Watch for system-specific results and provides a separate information brochure. Use the result's system, sample date, compound, units and reporting limit when reading it.
Keep dated regulatory guidance separate from an annual report's historical wording. Our overviews preserve Newark's unresolved PFAS wording and Wilmington's unregulated-table context without turning them into present compliance findings.
Private wells
Confirm that the test covers the concern
Delaware Public Health Laboratory describes private-well test kits for bacteria and a defined group of chemical parameters. Its guidance explicitly says these kits do not test for compounds associated with a spill or environmental release.
Describe your concern before selecting a test. The private-well page points to DNREC for well-construction and spill questions; the separate laboratory-certification directory describes public-system compliance testing. Confirm sample acceptance and the specific analyses directly.
Common questions
Questions that matter when reading Delaware records
Why do Newark and Lewes have 2026 reports for 2025 data?
The document's edition or publication year can differ from its monitoring year. Newark and Lewes publish 2026 editions describing the previous year's water quality, while individual sample rows can have their own dates. Keep all three labels separate.
Does an empty PFAS search mean no PFAS was detected?
No. Delaware says results are posted as they become available. The selected sample class and date range can also change what a search shows. Ask the provider about a missing result rather than assigning it a value.
Will a routine state test kit cover a suspected spill?
The state's private-well guidance says its routine kits do not test for compounds associated with spills or environmental releases. Contact the appropriate DNREC or public-health program and describe the concern before selecting analyses.
Is a public-notices archive a current all-clear?
No. The Office of Drinking Water notices page reviewed for this guide contains historical entries. Check the provider's current communications and the notice's affected area, date and updates; an absent archive entry is not a finding about your property.
Official sources
Official sources for Delaware
Use Delaware Division of Public Health Office of Drinking Water and the official sources below to verify system identity, record dates, and current notices before relying on a summary.
Statewide sources
Delaware Division of Public Health
State data
State data
State data
State data
State data
PFAS information and result navigation (opens official source)
State data
State data
Service-line inventory transparency dashboard (opens official source)
State data
State data
PWSID DE0000630 · Sources for this system
Newark Water Department
PWSID DE0000602 · Sources for this system
Lewes Board of Public Works
Utility report
2026 Water Quality Report covering 2025 monitoring (opens official source)
Utility website
Utility website
PWSID DE0000663 · Sources for this system
Wilmington Water Department
Utility report
Utility website
Utility website