Arcadia, SC tap water
Supplied mostly by Spartanburg Water System, plus 1 other utility. Here's what the water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chlorine
Your water is treated with chlorine. It slowly gases off from standing water, and any water conditioner removes it.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.2–1.5 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.2 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From Spartanburg Water System's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.01–0.69 ppm (Worth knowing)
The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.
Shrimp and snails are sensitive to copper. Water that sits in household pipes picks up the most; it drops once the tap has run for a minute.
Published by your utility: Spartanburg Water System's 2025 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.4–1.7 ppm
Typical 1.1 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: Spartanburg Water System's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
15 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
Published by your utility: Spartanburg Water System's website.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
15–18 ppm
Typical 16 ppm
Little buffering. pH can drop quickly between water changes, especially with CO₂ or an older tank.
From EPA monitoring data, measured before treatment; EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
6.9–7.3
Typical 7.1
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
Published by your utility: Spartanburg Water System's 2025 water quality report.
Total dissolved solids
32–88 ppm
Typical 62 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: Spartanburg Water System's 2025 water quality report.
- Spartanburg Water System and Sjwd Middle Tyger WTP (SC4220006) add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Arcadia, SC
- 2025 water quality report
Spartanburg Water System
Serves 88% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
Sjwd Middle Tyger WTP (SC4220006)
Serves 6% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
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.