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Is San Diego, CA tap water safe?

5 utilities serve San Diego, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and California’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

1 of the 5 utilities serving San Diego has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and California’s records: Cal - Am Water Coronado.

City of San Diego, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above the limit’s level with no violation recorded, 1 result above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Uranium at 44.7 ppb, above the limit’s level, no violation. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

The water from City of San Diego is moderately hard to very hard depending on the source, 113 to 619 mg/L (6.6 to 36.2 grains per gallon). How California’s water compares.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in San Diego’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in City of San Diego’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near San Diego

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab California certifies.

The 3 labs California certifies closest to San Diego, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Analytical Environmental Lab, LLC

    San Diego, CA · about 2 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, disinfection byproducts

    (619) 871-8505

  • EMSL Analytical, Inc.

    San Diego, CA · about 2 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (800) 220-3675

  • Environmental Laboratory Network, Inc.

    San Diego, CA · about 3 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, radioactivity

    (858) 266-1666

All 145 certified labs for California

ZIP codes in San Diego

Which ZIP codes are in San Diego: 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 San Diego

Other towns in San Diego County with a page of their own.

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