Is Foster City, CA tap water safe?
The short answer
Estero Municipal Improvement District serves Foster City. In EPA’s and California’s records it has nothing above a health goal, and no health-based violation since 2016.
That data covers what its report lists, not everything.
Some homes in a town are on private wells or a small system of their own. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours.
Water testing near Foster City
The 3 labs California certifies closest to Foster City, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
San Mateo County Public Health Laboratory
San Mateo, CA · about 2 miles
Certified for bacteria
Eurofins Built Environment Testing West-Burlingame
Burlingame, CA · about 5 miles
Certified for bacteria
Garratt-Callahan Laboratory
Burlingame, CA · about 7 miles
Certified for nitrate, metals, minerals and other inorganics
ZIP codes in Foster City
Which ZIP codes are in Foster City: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: California State Water Resources Control Board, ELAP accredited laboratories and their fields of accreditation; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.
Near Foster City
Other towns in San Mateo County with a page of their own.
What to do next
- Read Estero Municipal Improvement District’s full reportEvery result with its dates, the violations, and the certification claim that handles each finding.Open the report
- Decide if you want a filter at allA filter for taste or chlorine is a preference, not a need. The standards say what each kind can do.NSF/ANSI standards, decoded
- On a private well?No utility tests a well. A certified lab test is the first step.How to test well water