San Diego, CA

Moderate Risk (56/100)

Environmental data for San Diego in California

San Diego, CA is tracked across three EPA datasets covering 50 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) facilityies, 0 Safe Drinking Water Act systems, and 0 Superfund National Priorities List sites. Together these generate an environmental burden score of 56/100 (Moderate Risk), calibrated against national distributions for facility density, chemical release volume, Superfund concentration, and water-system health violations.

Industrial disclosures inside the county total 6.2M lbs of reported toxic releases under EPCRA Section 313, while 0 water systems carry an active health-based violation in the SDWIS record. EPA Air Quality System monitors logged a median AQI of 71 and a peak AQI of 161 in 2024, with 13% 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.

TRI Facilities
50
Water Systems
0
Superfund Sites
0
Total Releases
6.2M lbs

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 47 (13%) 267 48 161
2023 61 (17%) 260 44 150
2022 42 (12%) 297 25 156
2021 52 (14%) 297 16 133
2020 33 (9%) 284 35 192
2024 Good Air Quality: 13% of days
Unhealthy days: 52
Median AQI: 71

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 detailed air quality monitoring data, pollutant breakdowns, and metro-level AQI trends, see Air Quality in California on PlainAirData.

TRI Facilities (50)

# Facility Total Releases
1 US Marine Corps Mcb Camp Pendleton 3.3M lbs
2 General Dynamics (nassco) 812.7K lbs
3 Bae Systems San Diego Ship Repair 397.8K lbs
4 Sumitomo Electric Interconnect Products Inc 393.7K lbs
5 Gkn Aerospace Chem-Tronics Inc 351.0K lbs
6 U.S. Naval Air Station North Island 206.9K lbs
7 US Marine Corps Air Station Miramar 151.3K lbs
8 US Navy Silver Strand Training Complex (sstc) 81.7K lbs
9 US Cbp Border Patrol Firearms Range Be # CA0180 64.8K lbs
10 US Navy Camp Michael Monsoor - la Posta (ranges) (part) 62.8K lbs
11 Hydranautics 51.2K lbs
12 Solar Turbines Inc Harbor Drive 35.5K lbs
13 Rohr Inc a Collins Aerospace Co 34.9K lbs
14 Solecta Inc. 33.6K lbs
15 Integrated Dna Technologies 32.6K lbs
16 Polypeptide Laboratories San Diego 31.8K lbs
17 San Diego Galvanizing Inc 16.0K lbs
18 US Naval Submarine Base San Diego 15.0K lbs
19 Watkins Manufacturing 14.8K lbs
20 Illumina 13.9K lbs
21 Saint Gobain Solar Gard LLC 11.4K lbs
22 Piercan USA Inc. 11.1K lbs
23 Sherwin-Williams Co 9.0K lbs
24 US Cbp Boulevard Border Patrol Station #CA11560 8.9K lbs
25 Ademco Inc 6.4K lbs
26 Vision Systems Inc. 6.3K lbs
27 Somacis Inc 5.1K lbs
28 Costco Optical Lab #908 4.8K lbs
29 Tesoro - San Diego Terminal 4.5K lbs
30 California Crafted Marble Inc 4.5K lbs
31 Integrated Dna Technologies 4.2K lbs
32 Kyocera International Inc 3.9K lbs
33 Designer Molecules Inc 3.6K lbs
34 Bachem Americas Inc. 3.6K lbs
35 U.s Coast Guard Sector San Diego Ca 3.5K lbs
36 Teledyne Instruments Inc. DBA Teledyne Rd Instruments 2.1K lbs
37 Cp Kelco 1.9K lbs
38 Teledyne Instruments Inc DBA Teledyne Impulse 1.5K lbs
39 K-Tube Corp 1.2K lbs
40 Quidel Inc 1.1K lbs
41 Chevron San Diego Terminal 857 lbs
42 Senior Aerospace Ketema Div 663 lbs
43 Ttm Technologies N.a. LLC 563 lbs
44 New Leaf Biofuel 472 lbs
45 Mitsubishi Chemical Carbon Fiber & Composites I 440 lbs
46 Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc 293 lbs
47 U.S. Naval Base San Diego 184 lbs
48 Ametek Programmable Power 181 lbs
49 Survival Systems International Inc 141 lbs
50 Versum Materials US LLC 69 lbs

Cities in San Diego (18)

Boulevard
Pop: —
1 facilities · 2 water
Campo
Pop: —
1 facilities · 4 water
National City
Pop: —
2 facilities · 0 water
Carlsbad
Pop: —
4 facilities · 2 water
Chula Vista
Pop: —
2 facilities · 1 water
El Cajon
Pop: —
5 facilities · 1 water
Escondido
Pop: —
4 facilities · 6 water
Lakeside
Pop: —
1 facilities · 2 water
Oceanside
Pop: —
5 facilities · 1 water
Camp Pendleton
Pop: —
1 facilities · 2 water
Poway
Pop: —
5 facilities · 1 water
San Marcos
Pop: —
5 facilities · 2 water
Santee
Pop: —
2 facilities · 3 water
Valley Center
Pop: —
1 facilities · 8 water
Vista
Pop: —
2 facilities · 2 water
San Diego
Pop: —
50 facilities · 13 water
Coronado
Pop: —
1 facilities · 0 water
San Diego County
Pop: —
0 facilities · 0 water

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the environmental risk level in San Diego, California?
San Diego, CA has an environmental risk score of 56/100 (Moderate Risk), based on 50 TRI facilities, 0 Superfund sites, and 0 water systems on record. No water systems have current health-based violations. Source: EPA TRI, SDWIS, and Superfund NPL.
Are there Superfund sites in San Diego?
No Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) sites are currently registered in San Diego, CA in the EPA database.
How many toxic release facilities are in San Diego?
San Diego, CA has 50 TRI-reporting facilities on record with the EPA Toxic Release Inventory, with a combined total of 6.2M lbs in reported toxic releases. TRI facilities self-report annual chemical release data to the EPA.
What is the air quality in San Diego?
In 2024, San Diego, CA recorded a median AQI of 71 and a peak AQI of 161. 13% of monitored days had "Good" air quality (AQI 0–50). Source: EPA Air Quality System (AQS) Annual AQI by County.
Is the drinking water safe in San Diego?
No EPA-regulated water systems are currently recorded for San Diego, CA in the SDWIS database.
What environmental agencies cover San Diego?
Environmental compliance in San Diego, California is overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the federal level and the California state environmental agency. Facilities report to the EPA Toxic Release Inventory, water systems are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and contaminated sites are managed under the Superfund program. Contact your state environmental agency for local concerns.

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.

Related

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainEnviro Editorial