What is the Munimetric score for California?

Munimetric assigns a state-level average MISI score based on the individual scores of all covered community water systems in California. The state average, band distribution, and market-level rankings are shown on this page. Higher MISI values indicate greater structural stress.

Which water systems in California face the most infrastructure stress?

The state page ranks the highest-stress systems in California by MISI score. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk, not a single compliance event. The headline remains a blended structural stress composite rather than a pure physical-condition index. Workflow actions remain reserved for account access.

How does California compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?

California is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. Munimetric tracks nationwide coverage across 9,000+ scored service markets.

Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in California water systems?

Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family score. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.

Does Munimetric include PFAS monitoring context for California water systems?

Munimetric summarizes stored PFAS monitoring context where public contaminant-monitoring records are available. Missing PFAS summaries remain missing records, not non-detections, and this public-record layer does not change the MISI score by itself.

What compliance signals are active in California?

Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, population decline, income erosion, data staleness, and parent-government fiscal stress across California water systems.

Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in California?

Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions that provide context around system reliability over time.

How many covered systems in California have recent recorded drinking-water violations?

Stored public records show 124 covered systems with recent drinking-water violations, with 641 recorded violations across 711 covered systems in the recent 3 years window.

How does Munimetric summarize PFAS public-record context in California?

Stored contaminant-monitoring summaries are present for 618 covered systems; 410 systems have PFAS detection context in this state summary.

How does Munimetric summarize lead & copper context in California?

Stored lead & copper summaries are present for 649 covered systems; 286 systems have violation or action-level context in this state summary.

What source-water types are represented across covered California systems?

Stored identity records group covered California systems by source-water type: Surface water: 427, Groundwater: 283, Not stored: 1.

Where can I find official drinking-water records for California?

The Official records drawer lists State drinking-water program, State advisories and notices, Public drinking-water profile, Contaminant monitoring records links where currently available for California.

Is this a real-time statewide tap-water condition rating?

No. This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. Munimetric summarizes stored public-record context for research and navigation, and this layer does not change MISI.

States / California

California

Name: California Drinking Water Infrastructure Stress Data
Creator: Munimetric
License: https://munimetric.com/terms

Explore California drinking-water system scores, stress signals, infrastructure risk, and statewide market context across 711 scored service markets serving approximately 39.8 million people. This state profile highlights what is happening and why it matters using water-system, fiscal, capital, and signal context.

California has an average MISI infrastructure stress score of 21.7/100 in the Watch band as of 2026-05-19. Public records summarize recent drinking-water violations, PFAS monitoring records, lead and copper context, and source-water mix across 711 covered systems. Updated May 2026.

National context

States sized by scored-market count. Color reflects average stress band.

711Markets scored

21.7Headline composite

~39.8MPop. served

2738Active signals

Band distribution (MISI)

State headline composite

Component of current headline composite

Infrastructure Stress16.8 / 100

Physical, compliance, and capital-execution pressure reflected in the blended headline composite.

Socioeconomic Stress4.7 / 100

Affordability, demand-base, and parent-government fiscal pressure reflected in the blended headline composite.

Observability Stress0.1 / 100

Staleness, disclosure freshness, and reporting-visibility effects reflected in the blended headline composite.

21.7 headline compositeCalifornia state composite711 markets~39.8M people served

State interpretation guide

How to read California headline composite

Plain-language summary

California currently shows an average MISI headline composite of 21.7 versus a national average of 25.0. In v0.1.2, the headline composite remains a blended structural stress measure rather than a pure physical-condition index. A frozen national reference and a 50 percent single-factor cap reduce the dominance of near-universal and very rare factors, while the component bars continue to separate infrastructure, socioeconomic, and observability readings.

Why this page stands out

711 scored systems are included in this state view, with explicit confidence and source-backed context.
State posture is benchmarked against national averages, not evaluated in isolation.
Top system links below connect state-level findings directly to profile-level diagnostics.

What to do next

Review the executive context to understand the state-level pressure pattern.
Open top system profiles to inspect what is actually driving stress at market level.
Use Track to monitor changes in high-stress systems over time.

Priority California paths

Public record layer

Statewide Water Quality Context

Stored public-record context for recent drinking-water violations, contaminant monitoring, and source-water mix across covered systems. This is not a tap-water safety determination and does not change the MISI score.

Systems with recent violations

124 of 711Systems with recent public violation rows.

Source-water mix711 systems

Surface water427
Groundwater283
Purchased water0
Mixed source0
Not stored1

Latest identity snapshot: Dec 31, 2025

Coverage

Violation, enforcement, and compliance-burden counts use the recent 3 years window for dated stored records.
Drinking-water identity snapshots are stored for 653 of 711 included scored systems.
PFAS monitoring summary records are stored for 618 of 711 included systems; missing records are not treated as non-detections.
Lead and copper summary records are stored for 649 of 711 included systems; missing records are not treated as absence of lead/copper context.

Water quality questionsDefinitions and public-record context

How many covered systems in California have recent recorded drinking-water violations?: Stored public records show 124 covered systems with recent drinking-water violations, with 641 recorded violations across 711 covered systems in the recent 3 years window.
How does Munimetric summarize PFAS public-record context in California?: Stored contaminant-monitoring summaries are present for 618 covered systems; 410 systems have PFAS detection context in this state summary.
How does Munimetric summarize lead & copper context in California?: Stored lead & copper summaries are present for 649 covered systems; 286 systems have violation or action-level context in this state summary.
What source-water types are represented across covered California systems?: Stored identity records group covered California systems by source-water type: Surface water: 427, Groundwater: 283, Not stored: 1.
Where can I find official drinking-water records for California?: The Official records drawer lists State drinking-water program, State advisories and notices, Public drinking-water profile, Contaminant monitoring records links where currently available for California.
Is this a real-time statewide tap-water condition rating?: No. This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. Munimetric summarizes stored public-record context for research and navigation, and this layer does not change MISI.

Official records

State drinking-water programCalifornia State Water Resources Control Board: State drinking-water program home page.
State advisories and noticesCalifornia State Water Resources Control Board: Official drinking-water public notification templates and notice guidance.
Public drinking-water profileEPA ECHO: Federal drinking-water dashboard and public-record search entry point.
Contaminant monitoring recordsEPA UCMR: Federal contaminant-monitoring program reference and public data entry point.

Methodology/source notes

Methodology/source notesDisplayed from stored public drinking-water records and official program references. This layer does not change MISI.
Enforcement historyEPA ECHO / SDWIS: Violation and enforcement counts are aggregated from stored public compliance records across covered systems.
Contaminant monitoring recordsEPA UCMR: PFAS context uses stored contaminant-monitoring summaries where available; missing records are not treated as non-detections.

Top recent compliance-burden systemsRecent 3 years

System	Population	Source water	Recent violations	Recent enforcement	Public-record flags
Norco, City OfCA3310025	25,068	Surface water	85	5	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Muscoy Mwc No. 1CA3610031	13,000	Groundwater	32	8	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures
Hughson, City OfCA5010008	7,481	Groundwater	26	0	recent violations recorded, recent monitoring/reporting failures, lead/copper context
Lindsay, City OfCA5410006	12,659	Surface water	24	8	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Suisun-Solano Water AuthorityCA4810005	29,105	Surface water	24	6	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, lead/copper context
Lemoore, City OfCA1610005	27,185	Groundwater	14	6	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history
City Of Dos PalosCA2410002	7,452	Surface water	14	2	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, lead/copper context
Hilmar County Water DistrictCA2410012	5,504	Groundwater	14	1	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history

This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. For current advisories or health guidance, consult the utility or state drinking-water program.

Executive context

What This Page Shows

711 of the community drinking-water systems in California are currently scored. Analytics below are calculated from this covered subset only. Covered systems serve approximately 39.8M people.

What the Data Suggests

California has 711 scored service markets in the Munimetric coverage set, covering roughly 39.8 million residents in total. At the latest reading, the state-level average lands at 21.7 out of 100, indicating early but meaningful signs of structural stress in aggregate. A relatively small share — roughly 1% — currently sit in elevated-stress bands.

Across state markets, Operational Stress (8.6 points average) and Capex Pressure (8.2) are the leading contributors to headline stress. The relatively close spacing suggests pressure is spread across more than one dimension.

2738 active signals are recorded across state markets. The most prevalent is Climate Hazard Exposure, affecting 711 markets.

State-level average stress has been relatively steady between recent observation periods, suggesting the current picture reflects persistent conditions rather than a sudden shift.

This summary is based on structured, source-backed public data and is intended for research and monitoring only. It is not investment advice, a credit opinion, or municipal advisory guidance.

Recent Movement

Latest average MISI is 21.7 as of May 19, 2026. Movement since May 17, 2026 is flat.

Compact summary from 42 stored state observations.

State Family Contribution Summary

Operational Stress8.6 / 20.0

Capex Pressure8.2 / 20.0

Revenue Fragility4.3 / 20.0

Governance Risk0.5 / 20.0

Rate Constraint0.0 / 20.0

Signals

Signal Frequency

Signal	Severity	Markets affected	% of scored
Climate Hazard Exposure	high	711	100%
High-AGI Out-Migration	high	525	74%
PFAS Contamination Risk	high	410	58%
Lead & Copper Rule Risk	high	286	40%
Compliance Escalation	high	207	29%
Population Served Decline	medium	177	25%
Infrastructure Capital Gap	high	139	20%
Current Drought Severity	medium	94	13%
Parent-Government Fiscal Stress	high	88	12%
Housing Market Weakness	medium	79	11%
Monitoring / Reporting Failures	medium	12	2%
Utility Data Staleness	high	10	1%

Markets

Top Markets

#	Market	Score	Band	Population	Signals
1	Irvine Ranch Water District	46.5	Fragile	445K	7
2	Corona, City of	43.9	Fragile	169K	7
3	Carmichael Water District	42.5	Fragile	41K	7
4	Sfpuc City Distribution Division	42.0	Fragile	848K	6
5	City of Anaheim	41.9	Fragile	349K	7
6	San Jose Water Company	40.0	Fragile	1.0M	7
7	City of Gridley	39.2	Watch	7K	8
8	Norco, City of	39.1	Watch	25K	5
9	City of Milpitas	38.5	Watch	82K	7
10	San Gabriel Valley Water Co.-El Monte	38.3	Watch	248K	7
11	Los Angeles-City, Dept. of Water & Power	37.9	Watch	3.9M	7
12	Pasadena-City, Water Dept.	37.6	Watch	164K	7
13	Pico Wd	37.5	Watch	22K	7
14	Serrano Water District	37.4	Watch	6K	6
15	Trabuco Canyon Water District	37.4	Watch	14K	6
16	City of Fountain Valley	37.3	Watch	57K	6
17	Lindsay, City of	37.1	Watch	13K	6
18	Casitas Municipal Water Dist	37.1	Watch	11K	6
19	Long Beach-City, Water Dept.	37.1	Watch	467K	6
20	Great Oaks Wc, Inc.	37.1	Watch	110K	6

Comparison

State Comparison

National average: 25.0

Rank	State	Avg Score	Band	Markets	Delta vs State
36	Alabama	22.0	Watch	289	+0.3
37	Tennessee	21.9	Watch	261	+0.2
38	California	21.7	Watch	711	+0.0
39	Nebraska	21.3	Watch	44	-0.4
40	Idaho	21.2	Watch	51	-0.5

Analytical posture

State Stress Analytics

Score Distribution

Distribution of scored market scores with the state average overlay.

711 markets plotted.

Stress vs Population

Each point is a scored market; tooltip reveals market-level context.

708 markets plotted.

Population View

People served by community water systems in California, colored by stress band.

~39.8M people served by 711 systems in California

Stable

Watch

Fragile

High Stress

Critical

711 scored systems · colored by stress band

Peer Constellation

Select a market to see its nearest peers by score similarity.

Center market:

24 nearest peers by score distance.

Score Trend

Latest

21.7

Trend

+18.4

Observations

Extended layers

Advanced State Context

Priority views, detailed registers, and methodology supporting the analytical core above.

Markets & signals

Priority Views

#	Service Market	Score	Band	Pop.	Signals
1	Irvine Ranch Water District	46.5	Fragile	445K	7
2	Corona, City of	43.9	Fragile	169K	7
3	Carmichael Water District	42.5	Fragile	41K	7
4	Sfpuc City Distribution Division	42.0	Fragile	848K	6
5	City of Anaheim	41.9	Fragile	349K	7
6	San Jose Water Company	40.0	Fragile	1.0M	7
7	City of Gridley	39.2	Watch	7K	8
8	Norco, City of	39.1	Watch	25K	5
9	City of Milpitas	38.5	Watch	82K	7
10	San Gabriel Valley Water Co.-El Monte	38.3	Watch	248K	7
11	Los Angeles-City, Dept. of Water & Power	37.9	Watch	3.9M	7
12	Pasadena-City, Water Dept.	37.6	Watch	164K	7
13	Pico Wd	37.5	Watch	22K	7
14	Serrano Water District	37.4	Watch	6K	6
15	Trabuco Canyon Water District	37.4	Watch	14K	6
16	City of Fountain Valley	37.3	Watch	57K	6
17	Lindsay, City of	37.1	Watch	13K	6
18	Casitas Municipal Water Dist	37.1	Watch	11K	6
19	Long Beach-City, Water Dept.	37.1	Watch	467K	6
20	Great Oaks Wc, Inc.	37.1	Watch	110K	6

Detailed records

Registers

#	Market	Score	Band	Population	Signals
1	Irvine Ranch Water District	46.5	Fragile	445K	7
2	Corona, City of	43.9	Fragile	169K	7
3	Carmichael Water District	42.5	Fragile	41K	7
4	Sfpuc City Distribution Division	42.0	Fragile	848K	6
5	City of Anaheim	41.9	Fragile	349K	7
6	San Jose Water Company	40.0	Fragile	1.0M	7
7	City of Gridley	39.2	Watch	7K	8
8	Norco, City of	39.1	Watch	25K	5
9	City of Milpitas	38.5	Watch	82K	7
10	San Gabriel Valley Water Co.-El Monte	38.3	Watch	248K	7
11	Los Angeles-City, Dept. of Water & Power	37.9	Watch	3.9M	7
12	Pasadena-City, Water Dept.	37.6	Watch	164K	7
13	Pico Wd	37.5	Watch	22K	7
14	Serrano Water District	37.4	Watch	6K	6
15	Trabuco Canyon Water District	37.4	Watch	14K	6
16	City of Fountain Valley	37.3	Watch	57K	6
17	Lindsay, City of	37.1	Watch	13K	6
18	Casitas Municipal Water Dist	37.1	Watch	11K	6
19	Long Beach-City, Water Dept.	37.1	Watch	467K	6
20	Great Oaks Wc, Inc.	37.1	Watch	110K	6

Munimetric tracks infrastructure stress across 711 community drinking-water systems in California, covering compliance conditions, capital needs, revenue and rate pressure, and governance risk. Use this page to research which systems face the highest structural stress and how California compares nationally.

Which water systems in California face the most infrastructure stress?: The highest-stress systems in California are ranked by MISI score above. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk—not a single compliance event. In v0.1.2, the headline composite remains a blended structural stress measure rather than a pure physical-condition index. A frozen national reference and a 50 percent single-factor cap reduce the dominance of near-universal and very rare factors, while the component bars continue to separate infrastructure, socioeconomic, and observability readings.
How does California compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?: California is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. The state comparison table above shows where California ranks nationally and how its average score compares.
Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in California water systems?: Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.
What compliance signals are active in California?: Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, data staleness, and financial stress indicators across California systems. The signal frequency table above summarizes which signals are most prevalent statewide.
Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in California?: Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions—compliance posture, infrastructure stress, and governance risk—that provide broader context around system reliability.

Keep monitoring this state

Workflow access covers exports, Track, Munex, alerts, and repeat monitoring tools.

Get the Water Stress Brief Request workflow access

Water Infrastructure in California

Munimetric tracks infrastructure stress across 711 community drinking-water systems in California. Each system receives a Munimetric Infrastructure Stress Index (MISI) score from 0 to 100, calculated across five risk families: Operational Stress, Capex Pressure, Revenue Fragility, Rate Constraint, and Governance Risk. Higher scores indicate more structural stress. Scores are source-backed and deterministic, drawing from EPA SDWA compliance records, American Community Survey demographic and economic data, FEMA National Risk Index hazard profiles, and state financial disclosures.

State-level monitoring shows which systems face the highest structural stress, how California compares against other states nationally, and which monitoring signals are most active across the state. Each individual system profile includes compliance history, score family drivers, peer rankings within population-based cohorts where safeguards pass, and public source context. Full provenance cards and source workbench views remain workflow-gated. Munimetric covers community water systems across all 50 states and territories. This is structural risk research—not a water quality rating, advisory feed, or credit rating. Updated May 2026.

The statewide public-record layer adds drinking-water violation categories, PFAS monitoring summaries where stored, lead and copper context, source-water mix, and official record links across covered systems. These records help explain water-system context alongside infrastructure stress without turning Munimetric into a tap-water safety determination.

What is the Munimetric score for California?: Munimetric assigns a state-level average MISI score based on the individual scores of all covered community water systems in California. The state average, band distribution, and market-level rankings are shown on this page. Higher MISI values indicate greater structural stress.
Which water systems in California face the most infrastructure stress?: The state page ranks the highest-stress systems in California by MISI score. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk, not a single compliance event. The headline remains a blended structural stress composite rather than a pure physical-condition index. Workflow actions remain reserved for account access.
How does California compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?: California is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. Munimetric tracks nationwide coverage across 9,000+ scored service markets.
Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in California water systems?: Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family score. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.
Does Munimetric include PFAS monitoring context for California water systems?: Munimetric summarizes stored PFAS monitoring context where public contaminant-monitoring records are available. Missing PFAS summaries remain missing records, not non-detections, and this public-record layer does not change the MISI score by itself.
What compliance signals are active in California?: Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, population decline, income erosion, data staleness, and parent-government fiscal stress across California water systems.
Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in California?: Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions that provide context around system reliability over time.

California

California Infrastructure Track

Funding mix

Big projects

How to read California headline composite

Plain-language summary

Why this page stands out

What to do next

Priority California paths

Statewide Water Quality Context

What This Page Shows

What the Data Suggests

Recent Movement

State Family Contribution Summary

Signal Frequency

Top Markets

State Comparison

State Stress Analytics

Score Distribution

Stress vs Population

Population View

Peer Constellation

Score Trend

Advanced State Context

Priority Views

Registers

Keep monitoring this state

Water Infrastructure in California

California

Funding mix

Big projects

How to read California headline composite

Plain-language summary

Why this page stands out

What to do next

Priority California paths

Statewide Water Quality Context

What This Page Shows

What the Data Suggests

Recent Movement

State Family Contribution Summary

Signal Frequency

Top Markets

State Comparison

State Stress Analytics

Score Trend

Advanced State Context

Priority Views

Registers

Keep monitoring this state

Water Infrastructure in California

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