Bakersfield, CA tap water
Supplied mostly by California Water Service - Bakersfield District, 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 California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 30 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.8 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.07–0.11 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.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; California Water Board lab results (2024–2025).
Water chemistry
General hardness
31–550 ppm
Typical 62 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; California Water Board lab results.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
40–140 ppm
Typical 60 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; Cws - North Garden and Kern County Water Agency, which supplies City of Bakersfield (2023–2026).
pH
4.9–9.8
Typical 7.6
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; California Water Board lab results (2024–2026).
Total dissolved solids
81–1275 ppm
Typical 169 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
From California Water Service - Bakersfield District's 2024 water quality report; California Water Board lab results.
- California Water Service - Bakersfield District and City of Bakersfield add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Bakersfield, CA
- 2024 water quality report
California Water Service - Bakersfield District
Serves 46% of residents · Lake or river water · Chlorine
City of Bakersfield
Serves 38% of residents · Buys water from Cws - North Garden · 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.
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Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.