Lehigh, PA
A PlainEnviro-computed score from reported facility/violation counts, not an official EPA rating, health forecast, or population-adjusted rate. See methodology. This is a different measure than the EJ Screening score for this county, which ranks it by percentile against every other tracked county rather than against fixed national thresholds.
Environmental data for Lehigh in Pennsylvania · Population: 375,408
Lehigh, PA is tracked across three EPA datasets covering 28 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, 40 Safe Drinking Water Act systems, and 0 Superfund National Priorities List sites. Together these generate an environmental burden score of 60/100 (High Risk), calibrated against national distributions for facility density, chemical release volume, Superfund concentration, and water-system health violations.
Industrial disclosures inside the county total 4.1M lbs of reported toxic releases under EPCRA Section 313, while 10 water systems carry an active health-based violation in the SDWIS record. EPA Air Quality System monitors logged a median AQI of 39 and a peak AQI of 119 in 2024, with 76% of observed days rated "Good" (0–50).
All figures below draw directly from federal EPA records, TRI self-reported emissions, SDWIS compliance history, NPL Hazard Ranking System scores, and AQS daily AQI summaries, and are not adjusted, weighted, or forecast. A past violation or elevated score does not itself indicate current unsafe conditions; it documents the regulatory and disclosure history publicly filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the most recent reporting cycle.
Air Quality History (2020–2024)
EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) data showing how many days per year fall into each air quality category.
| Year | Good | Moderate | Unhealthy (SG) | Max AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 267 (76%) | 84 | 2 | 119 |
| 2023 | 230 (63%) | 126 | 2 | 337 |
| 2022 | 246 (69%) | 113 | 0 | 99 |
| 2021 | 198 (56%) | 154 | 0 | 154 |
| 2020 | 262 (73%) | 97 | 0 | 93 |
Source: EPA Air Quality System (AQS) Annual AQI by County EPA Air Quality System (AQS) Annual AQI by County AQI categories: Good (0-50), Moderate (51-100), Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101-150), Unhealthy (151-200), Very Unhealthy (201-300), Hazardous (301+)
For real-time air quality readings and pollutant breakdowns in Pennsylvania, see the EPA's AirNow.gov.
Water Systems (40)
| System | Population | Violations |
|---|---|---|
| LCA ALLENTOWN DIVISION | 118,000 | 0 |
| CITY OF BETHLEHEM | 117,259 | 0 |
| LCA WLSA CENTRAL DIVISION | 47,693 | 3 |
| SWT MAIN SYSTEM | 14,500 | 1 |
| EMMAUS BOROUGH PUBLIC WATER | 14,000 | 3 |
| WHITEHALL TWP AUTHORITY | 13,063 | 0 |
| SALISBURY TWP WATER SYSTEM | 8,522 | 0 |
| UPPER SAUCON TWP WATER SUPPLY | 7,300 | 0 |
| CATASAUQUA MUN WATER WORKS | 6,598 | 0 |
| SLATINGTON BOROUGH WATER SYS | 4,450 | 4 |
| MACUNGIE BOROUGH AUTHORITY | 3,039 | 0 |
| LCA NORTH WHITEHALL DIVISION | 2,910 | 0 |
| COOPERSBURG MUN WATER AUTH | 2,570 | 0 |
| DESALES UNIVERSITY | 2,000 | 0 |
| LCA ARCADIA WEST DIVISION | 1,392 | 0 |
| SWT ALLENTOWN CONS SYSTEM | 1,300 | 0 |
| LCA EMMAUS CONSECUTIVE DIV | 1,046 | 0 |
| LCA WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP DIV | 965 | 0 |
| BETH 512 SYSTEM | 725 | 0 |
| LIL WOLF MHP | 600 | 0 |
| HANOVER TOWNSHIP LEHIGH COUNTY | 520 | 0 |
| LCA HEIDELBERG HEIGHTS DIV | 509 | 1 |
| LCA MADISON NORTH DIVISION | 290 | 0 |
| LCA UPPER MILFORD CENTRAL DIV | 256 | 0 |
| LCA CLEARVIEW FARM ESTATES DIV | 170 | 0 |
| LCA PINE LAKES DIVISION | 158 | 0 |
| LCA BEVERLY HILLS DIVISION | 122 | 0 |
| GILLETT MHC | 100 | 1 |
| COUNTRY VIEW MHP | 98 | 0 |
| BETH WIL MAR MANOR | 90 | 1 |
| LCA MILL CREEK DIVISION | 88 | 0 |
| BETH COUNTRY SQUIRE ESTATES | 87 | 0 |
| VALLEY VIEW ESTATES | 68 | 1 |
| SCOTTYS MANUFACTURED HOMES | 67 | 0 |
| CHERRY MOBILE HOME PARK | 62 | 0 |
| BETH SHADY LANE SYSTEM | 61 | 0 |
| CORNERSTONE LIVING | 44 | 4 |
| OSSIES MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY | 40 | 0 |
| GRIMS MOBILE HOME COURT | 40 | 0 |
| CROSSROADS MHP | 30 | 6 |
TRI Facilities (28)
Cities in Lehigh (14)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the environmental risk level in Lehigh, Pennsylvania? ▼
Are there Superfund sites in Lehigh? ▼
How many toxic release facilities are in Lehigh? ▼
What is the air quality in Lehigh? ▼
Is the drinking water safe in Lehigh? ▼
What environmental agencies cover Lehigh? ▼
What does this county environmental profile show?
This county environmental profile rolls up EPA Toxics Release Inventory facility reports, Safe Drinking Water Information System public-water-system filings, and Superfund National Priorities List sites for the county boundary defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Facility counts reflect facilities with a reporting address inside the county, not where downstream environmental effects may be observed. Population figures are from the most recent Census ACS 5-year estimate. The county detail page is updated whenever the upstream EPA programs publish revised data; see the methodology page for the documented ingest cadence and the editorial choices governing how aggregations are computed.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.