Blue Grass, IA tap water
Supplied mostly by Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District, plus 2 other utilities. Here's what the water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chlorine or chloramine
Utilities here use chlorine or chloramine, depending on which one serves your address. Chlorine slowly gases off from standing water; chloramine doesn't.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.29–0.92 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.73 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 Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District reports (2025).
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)
0.2–20 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 20 ppm
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
1.2–3.8 ppm
Typical 3 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: Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
Not published yet
We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Not published yet
We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.
pH
Not published yet
We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.
- Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Blue Grass, IA
- 2025 water quality report
Iowa-American Water Company - Quad Cities District
Serves 63% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
Timber Valley Estates (1ST & 2ND Add)
Serves 9% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Disinfectant not listed
Rustic Oaks Homeowners Assn.
Serves 5% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · 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.