PlainEnviro

Santa Clara, CA

High Risk (94/100)

Transparent derived index from EPA TRI / SDWIS / Superfund extracts: not an official EPA rating. Fixed caps: facilities ≤25 pts (50+ = max), log10 releases ≤25 pts, Superfund ≤25 pts (5/site), health-violation systems ≤15 pts (3/system), high-chemical facilities ≤10 pts. Bands: High ≥60, Moderate ≥30. See methodology.

Environmental data for Santa Clara in California · Population: 1,903,297

TRI sites such as Clean Harbors San Jose LLC; Gorilla Circuits; Qualitek Inc (dba Westak); SDWIS systems such as SAN JOSE WATER; CWS - BAKERSFIELD; CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - STOCKTON; NPL sites such as Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (Building 915); Applied Materials anchor Santa Clara, CA's EPA extract. Derived burden score 94/100 (High Risk) uses fixed national caps on density, log release volume, Superfund count, and health-flagged systems - not an official EPA rating.

Health-flagged SDWIS rows in Santa Clara include SAN JOSE WATER; CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-CHICO; CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - SAN MATEO, while Clean Harbors San Jose LLC leads reported TRI pounds among local Form R filers. AQS median AQI 47 / peak 111 in 2024.

Burden score 94/100 (High Risk) is the only weighted composite on this page. The tables below list every TRI facility, SDWIS system, and Superfund site EPA has on record for Santa Clara -- not just the names called out above -- reproducing the disclosure history as filed, not a current-safety verdict. Extract current as of 2026-08-25.

Release-over-release change

What changed for Santa Clara, CA: EPA TRI 2023 reporting year

2022 → 2023

Same facilities, both years

-6.5%

43 facilities that filed in 2022 and 2023

Whole inventory

-9.9%

257.4 thousand lb → 231.8 thousand lb, every facility that filed

Between the two reporting years, 4 facilities filed for the first time and 5 stopped filing. Facilities entering or leaving the inventory are excluded from the same-facility comparison above.

  • Santa Clara, CA's total reported releases fell from 239.8 thousand lb in 2022 to 224.1 thousand lb in 2023, based on EPA TRI filings.
  • Santa Clara, CA's land releases rose from 19 lb in 2022 to 1.8 thousand lb in 2023, based on EPA TRI filings.
  • Santa Clara, CA's water releases fell from 32 lb in 2022 to 15 lb in 2023, based on EPA TRI filings.
  • Santa Clara, CA's air releases fell from 38.2 thousand lb in 2022 to 34.2 thousand lb in 2023, based on EPA TRI filings.
County population (Census ACS)
1,903,297
TRI Facilities
50
Water Systems
111
Superfund Sites
23
Total Releases
1.6M 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 201 (55%) 161 1 111
2023 240 (66%) 121 4 134
2022 188 (52%) 172 5 119
2021 147 (40%) 211 7 147
2020 174 (48%) 172 11 198
2024 Good Air Quality: 55% of days
Unhealthy days: 1
Median AQI: 47

Source: 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 California, see the EPA's AirNow.gov.

Water Systems (111)

System System pop (SDWIS) Violations
SAN JOSE WATER 1,039,920 4
CWS - BAKERSFIELD 267,881 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - STOCKTON 176,266 0
BAKERSFIELD, CITY OF 160,144 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO. - ELA 152,474 0
CWS - VISALIA 148,496 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO. - DOMINGUEZ 143,996 0
CITY OF SANTA CLARA 130,746 0
CWSC SALINAS 123,679 0
CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-CHICO 114,925 4
GREAT OAKS WC INC 110,088 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - SAN MATEO 102,348 2
CITY OF SAN JOSE - EVG/EDV/COY 101,265 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO. - HERM/REDO 96,853 0
CITY OF MILPITAS 81,773 0
CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW 81,501 4
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO. - PALOS VER 71,452 0
CWSC LOS ALTOS SUBURBAN 69,973 2
CITY OF PALO ALTO 67,231 3
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE-S SAN FRANCISCO 64,146 3
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - BEAR GULCH 61,431 2
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - LIVERMORE 60,414 0
CITY OF GILROY 59,203 3
CITY OF MORGAN HILL 47,374 0
CITY OF SAN JOSE - NSJ/ALVISO 45,559 0
HAWTHORNE-CITY WATER DEPT. 44,718 0
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 35,853 3
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE - SAN CARLOS 35,344 3
CITY OF EAST PALO ALTO 29,519 1
CWS - SELMA 26,517 0
CWS - NORTH GARDEN 22,762 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO - WESTLAKE 19,533 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO.-TRAVIS AFB 18,111 2
CITY OF CUPERTINO 16,336 0
CWSC KING CITY 16,334 0
CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-MARYSVILLE 12,419 0
CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-OROVILLE 11,106 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO. - DIXON 10,623 0
CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-WILLOWS 7,240 0
PURISSIMA HILLS WATER DISTRICT 6,245 0
CWSC SALINAS HILLS 5,293 0
COMMERCE-CITY, WATER DEPT. 4,205 0
TESORO VIEJO MASTER MWC, INC. 3,885 0
CWSC OAK HILLS 3,161 0
PALO ALTO PARK MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 2,900 1
CWS - KERNVILLE 2,572 48
LUCERNE WATER CO. - CAL WATER SERVICE 2,129 0
CWSC LAS LOMAS 2,084 0
CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-HAMILTON CITY 1,799 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO.-LANCASTER 1,387 0
CWS SOUTHLAKE SYSTEM 1,112 0
WESTFIELD GARDEN MOBILE HOME PARK 942 8
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO-LAKE HUGHES 929 0
CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO-LEONA VALLEY 878 0
CWS - LOWER BODFISH WATER SYSTEM 736 0
CWS - TULCO WATER COMPANY 716 0
SAN MARTIN COUNTY WATER DISTRICT 627 0
CEDAR GROVE MOBILE HOME PARK 595 6
MISSION OAKS MOBILE HOME PARK 550 0
RIVERBEND MHP 500 0
ARMSTRONG VALLEY-CAL WATER SERVICE (PUC) 473 0
CAMP SARATOGA 450 0
THOUSAND TRAILS - MORGAN HILL 413 0
COAST SPRINGS - CAL. WATER SERVICE (PUC) 388 0
CHEMEKETA PARK MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 346 0
CWS - UPPER BODFISH WATER SYSTEM 307 0
NEW AVENUE MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 305 0
CWS - LAKELAND 294 6
CWS-ONYX WATER SYSTEM 284 0
LICK OBSERVATORY-UCSC 284 0
CWS-SPLIT MOUNTAIN WATER SYSTEM 226 0
LONGHORN MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY 220 0
VILLA CEREZOS 200 0
MELODY WOODS WATER COMPANY 168 0
CWS - FREMONT VALLEY 167 0
MT. EDEN MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 165 1
SAN MARTIN FOOTHILLS WATER COMPANY 145 0
CWS - MULLEN WATER COMPANY 138 0
CWS-GRAND OAKS WATER SYSTEM 122 0
VALLEY BROOK MHP 114 2
THREE SPRINGS RANCH MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 110 4
OAK DELL PARK 104 0
RANCHO ROBLES MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 103 0
RANCHO DEL PARADISO-CAL WATER SVC (PUC) 94 0
HAWKINS WATER CO-CAL WATER SERVICE (PUC) 81 0
GREEN MOUNTAIN WATER COMPANY 80 1
HIDDEN ACRES TRAILER VILLA 80 1
NOEL HEIGHTS-CAL WATER SERVICE (PUC) 79 0
SANTA TERESA MEADOWS WATER COMPANY 68 0
SPRING VALLEY HEIGHTS ASSOCIATION INC 66 0
GOLDEN HEIGHTS MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 66 0
BURCHELL ROAD WATER ASSOCIATION 65 0
UVAS PINES RV PARK 65 0
MIREVAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION 60 0
LOS RANCHOS DE UVAS WATER COMPANY 58 1
QUAIL CREEK ESTATES MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 55 0
PINE CREST TR PK 54 4
SULLIVAN MUTUAL WATER 53 2
GREEN ACRES MUTUAL WATER 53 2
SOUTH COUNTY RETIREMENT HOME 46 1
ABORN HEIGHTS WATER MUTUAL ASSOCIATION 45 0
VALLEY VIEW RANCHES 45 2
EMERALD VALLEY MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 43 1
MARIA LANE MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 42 0
ANGELO LANE WATER COMPANY 41 0
CHIRI SWEET WATER COMPANY 40 0
RANCHO DE LOMAS MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 35 1
LEE'S ORCHARD OWNERS ASSOCIATION 35 0
LIVE OAK CREEK MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 30 2
RUCKER AVENUE MUTUAL WATER CO 25 0
SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT 0 0

TRI Facilities (50)

# Facility Total Releases
1 Clean Harbors San Jose LLC 348.8K lbs
2 Gorilla Circuits 328.0K lbs
3 Qualitek Inc (dba Westak) 152.4K lbs
4 Lumileds LLC 152.4K lbs
5 Streamline Circuits 102.5K lbs
6 Sierra Circuits Inc (dba Sierra Proto Express) 95.3K lbs
7 Ttm Technologies N.a. LLC 66.3K lbs
8 Owens Corning Santa Clara Plant 60.6K lbs
9 Lehigh Southwest Cement Co 37.0K lbs
10 Headway Technologies Inc. 34.2K lbs
11 Lenthor Engineering 29.4K lbs
12 Western Digital Technologies Inc 24.6K lbs
13 Agilent Technologies Inc 22.5K lbs
14 Univar Solutions USA Inc - San Jose 20.1K lbs
15 Harbor Electronics, Inc. 15.5K lbs
16 Apct Inc 15.1K lbs
17 Infinera Corp 13.3K lbs
18 Csbio 13.2K lbs
19 Csl Operating LLC 12.4K lbs
20 Quantumclean 8.7K lbs
21 Ttm Technologies 6.9K lbs
22 Ens Technology LLC 5.3K lbs
23 Sanmina Plant # 2 4.2K lbs
24 Northrop Grumman Systems Corp 3.6K lbs
25 Equilon San Jose Terminal 3.6K lbs
26 Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co 2.8K lbs
27 Sanmina-Plant # 1 2.5K lbs
28 Babbitt Bearing Co Inc 1.5K lbs
29 Burke Industries Inc 1.4K lbs
30 Analog Devices Inc 1.4K lbs
31 Winslow Automation Six Sigma 1.1K lbs
32 Flextronics 968 lbs
33 Sanmina - Bldg # 4 646 lbs
34 Sanmina - Bldg # 2 540 lbs
35 Apple Inc - Kifer 1C 528 lbs
36 Ball Screws & Actuators 462 lbs
37 Analog Devices Inc 349 lbs
38 Cirexx International 334 lbs
39 Bloom Energy Corp 272 lbs
40 Apple Inc 260 lbs
41 Maxar Space LLC 226 lbs
42 California Paperboard 203 lbs
43 Hill Brothers Chemical Co 90 lbs
44 Central Concrete Supply Co. Inc. - Queens Lane 16 lbs
45 Teledyne E2V Inc. 15 lbs
46 Granite Rock 11 lbs
47 International Rectifier Hirel Products 8 lbs
48 Central Concrete Supply Co. Inc. - Stockton Ave Plant 1 6 lbs
49 Intel Corp SC1/2 5 lbs
50 Oldcastle Precast Inc 1 lbs

Superfund Sites (23)

Site Name Status HRS Score
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. NPL Site 37.93
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (Building 915) NPL Site 31.94
Applied Materials NPL Site 31.94
CTS Printex, Inc. NPL Site 33.62
Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (Mountain View Plant) NPL Site 31.94
Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (South San Jose Plant) NPL Site 44.46
Hewlett-Packard (620-640 Page Mill Road) NPL Site 29.76
Intel Corp. (Mountain View Plant) NPL Site 29.76
Intel Corp. (Santa Clara III) Deleted NPL Site 31.94
Intel Magnetics NPL Site 31.94
Intersil Inc./Siemens Components NPL Site 28.90
JASCO Chemical Corp. Deleted NPL Site 35.36
Lorentz Barrel & Drum Co. NPL Site 33.94
Moffett Naval Air Station NPL Site 29.49
Monolithic Memories NPL Site 35.57
National Semiconductor Corp. NPL Site 35.57
Raytheon Corp. NPL Site 29.76
South Bay Asbestos Area NPL Site 44.68
Spectra-Physics, Inc. NPL Site 37.20
Synertek, Inc. (Building 1) NPL Site 31.94
Teledyne Semiconductor NPL Site 35.35
TRW Microwave, Inc. (Building 825) NPL Site 31.94
Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Sunnyvale Plant) NPL Site 39.93

Cities in Santa Clara (22)

San Jose
27 facilities · 69 water
Santa Clara
14 facilities · 2 water
Milpitas
8 facilities · 2 water
Sunnyvale
7 facilities · 1 water
Morgan Hill
2 facilities · 11 water
Palo Alto
2 facilities · 2 water
Gilroy
1 facilities · 12 water
San Martin
1 facilities · 5 water
Cupertino
1 facilities · 0 water
Los Altos
0 facilities · 3 water
East Palo Alto
0 facilities · 2 water
Campbell
0 facilities · 1 water
Coyote
0 facilities · 1 water
Jose
0 facilities · 1 water
Los Altos Hills
0 facilities · 1 water
Morgann Hill
0 facilities · 1 water
Mount Hamilton
0 facilities · 1 water
Mountain View
0 facilities · 1 water
Mt. Hamilton
0 facilities · 1 water
Stanford
0 facilities · 1 water
Alviso
0 facilities · 0 water
South San Jose
0 facilities · 0 water

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the environmental risk level in Santa Clara, California? ▼
Santa Clara, CA has an environmental risk score of 94/100 (High Risk), based on 50 TRI facilities, 23 Superfund sites, and 111 water systems on record. 32 water systems have health-based violations. Source: EPA TRI, SDWIS, and Superfund NPL.
Are there Superfund sites in Santa Clara? ▼
Yes, Santa Clara, CA has 23 Superfund sites on the EPA National Priorities List (NPL). Superfund sites are contaminated locations that require long-term cleanup under the EPA Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
How many toxic release facilities are in Santa Clara? ▼
Santa Clara, CA has 50 TRI-reporting facilities on record with the EPA Toxic Release Inventory, with a combined total of 1.6M lbs in reported toxic releases. TRI facilities self-report annual chemical release data to the EPA.
What is the air quality in Santa Clara? ▼
In 2024, Santa Clara, CA recorded a median AQI of 47 and a peak AQI of 111. 55% 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 Santa Clara? ▼
Santa Clara, CA has 111 EPA-regulated water systems. 32 systems have reported health-based violations (MCL exceedances). A past violation does not necessarily mean water is currently unsafe. For current water quality, contact your local water utility. Source: EPA SDWIS.
What environmental agencies cover Santa Clara? ▼
Environmental compliance in Santa Clara, 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 Guides

Understanding EPA Data
How EPA collects and publishes environmental data
Environmental Justice
Who lives near polluters and environmental hazards
How to Check Environmental Quality
Step-by-step guide to checking your local environment

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Data sourced from U.S. EPA environmental datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainEnviro