Abilene, TX tap water
Supplied by City of Abilene Water Utilities Department. Here's what its water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chloramine
Your water is treated with chloramine. Unlike chlorine, it doesn't gas off when water sits out, and many pitcher and fridge filters aren't rated to remove it. Conditioners that list chloramine on the label break it apart, which frees about 0.95 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.41–1.07 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.95 ppm
This is what a conditioner frees when it breaks the chloramine apart. A cycled filter clears it within a day; a big water change in a new or very small tank adds more of it at once. Some conditioners also bind ammonia for a day or so.
Estimated from the chloramine level City of Abilene Water Utilities Department reports (2024).
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2013).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.2–1.1 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.6 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
Published by your utility: City of Abilene Water Utilities Department's 2024 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
1.7–4.4 ppm
Typical 3.9 ppm
At tap levels, chlorine and chloramine are toxic to fish, shrimp and the bacteria in a filter. Water conditioners are made for this range.
Published by your utility: City of Abilene Water Utilities Department's 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
194–423 ppm
Typical 309 ppm
Hard. Ideal for livebearers and African cichlids. Soft-water species may struggle to breed.
Published by your utility: City of Abilene Water Utilities Department's 2024 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
108–127 ppm
Typical 118 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
Published by your utility: City of Abilene Water Utilities Department's 2024 water quality report.
pH
8–8.2
Typical 8.1
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data (2017).
Total dissolved solids
452–893 ppm
Typical 673 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
Published by your utility: City of Abilene Water Utilities Department's 2024 water quality report.
Who supplies Abilene, TX
- 2024 water quality report
City of Abilene Water Utilities Department
Serves 90% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
Our data comes from public records and is still incomplete. Many utilities don't publish every number, so we're adding more all the time. Your city's range is a starting point: testing your own tap is the only way to know exactly what's in it.
Tap water lookup covers US cities only for now. Want to know why it matters? Read our story on tap water.
Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.