San Diego, City Of, CA
Lead reported as not detected
Latest 90th-percentile lead: reported as 0 (not detected) (monitoring period 2024-2026). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. The latest 90th-percentile result was reported as 0 (not detected at the lab's limit). That says the sampled homes were low, not that your home has no lead service line. Check your utility's service line inventory for your address.
San Diego, City Of at a glance
San Diego, City Of serves about 1,408,937 people through 283,052 service connections, which makes it a very large system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in San Diego County, California. EPA system ID: CA3710020; phone on file: 858-292-6436. They can tell you what your service line is made of and whether they pay to replace it.
Every lead result on file
Against the period ending 2023 (0 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for San Diego, City Of is 0 ppb across 7 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2023 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2016 | 0 (not detected) |
How San Diego, City Of compares
Of the 2,884 California systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 0 ppb; 30 are over 15 ppb right now and 215 have gone over at some point. San Diego, City Of's reported as 0 (not detected) sits at the 63rd percentile in California and the 40th nationally (higher means more lead). Systems reporting 0 tie at the bottom, so the rank mostly reflects size among them.
Other water systems in San Diego County
80 other systems share San Diego County; 29 of them have a higher latest lead result than San Diego, City Of. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Helix Water District | 277,918 | 0 (not detected) |
| Otay Water District | 242,155 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sweetwater Authority | 184,915 | 0 (not detected) |
| Oceanside, City Of | 174,340 | 0 (not detected) |
| Escondido, City Of | 137,044 | 1.1 ppb |
| Vista Irrigation District | 134,501 | 0 (not detected) |
| Vallecitos Wd | 114,700 | 0 (not detected) |
| Cal-Am Water Coronado | 106,000 | 2 ppb |
| Carlsbad Mwd | 96,371 | 0 (not detected) |
| Padre Dam Mwd | 93,980 | 1.1 ppb |
What to do in your house
Look up your address in San Diego, City Of's service line inventory. If it says lead, galvanized or unknown, test your tap. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask San Diego, City Of whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Small systems behave differently: why small systems go over more often.