San Jose, California

What is the Water Quality in San Jose, California?

Compared to other US cities, San Jose water quality ranks in the high range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 39 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Chloroform is at very high levels: 30x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 139x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 276x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
• PFOA is at high levels: 9.6x health guidelines.
  • This is considered a “forever chemical” by the EPA and is being studied extensively.

Let’s look closer at what’s in San Jose water.

What’s in San Jose water?

Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 39 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

15 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does San Jose have Lead contamination?

No, San Jose does not have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations of 0.0 parts per billion (ppb).

The legal limit for lead is 15 parts per billion. Being well-below this level is a good thing.

• Concentrations between 3.8 ppb and 15 ppb put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels. Read more about the symptoms of Lead in water.

There is no safe level of lead for humans.

• The good news is that 99.99% of the lead can be removed.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does San Jose’s water come from?

San Jose’s water comes from the San Jose State University – Frontal San Francisco Bay Estuaries watershed.

There are no EPA assessed water sources in the San Jose State University – Frontal San Francisco Bay Estuaries watershed.

Ideally, a water source would be Known, Assessed, and rated in Good condition.

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:

1. Drinking Water
2. Aquatic Life
3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve San Jose’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in San Jose can be surprising.

But there are things you can do in your home to clean up your water.

To Remove Lead and Other Contaminants In Your Home:

There is one solution that beats Brita, PUR, and expensive whole house systems.

• It costs less per gallon.
• Needs fewer filter changes.
• And it doesn’t make your water taste weird.

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out at least 85% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of any Lead in San Jose water.
  • Brita can filter 23 contaminants (59%) and Lead depending on the filter.
  • Note: We may receive a commission if you decide to purchase filters through links on this page.
• To filter out 36 of the 39 contaminants (92.3%), consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • 1,4-Dioxane – “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
    • Aluminum
    • Barium – In low doses, barium ions act as a muscle stimulant, and higher doses affect the nervous system, causing cardiac irregularities, tremors, weakness, anxiety, shortness of breath, and paralysis.
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Chromium (total)
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Monobromoacetic acid
    • Monochloroacetic acid
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • PFBS
    • PFHxA
    • PFHXS
    • PFNA
    • PFOA
    • PFOS
    • Radium
    • Selenium – toxicity
    • Strontium
    • Styrene
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroacetic acid
    • Uranium

*Chlorination is an effective method of disinfecting/treating drinking water. You can then use a water filter to reduce the effects of chlorination byproducts to get the safest, cleanest water possible.

In Your Community:

Contact your local government officials and put pressure on them to invest in cleaner waterways and upgraded city water filtration and treatment.

Go to: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page