Shoal & Stem
Tap water lookup

Boston, MA tap water

Supplied by Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC). 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 0.47 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.

Safety for fish and shrimp

Ammonia (with conditioner)

Estimate

0.01–0.94 ppm (Low)

Typical 0.47 ppm

This is what a conditioner frees when it breaks the chloramine apart. A cycled filter clears it within a day.

Estimated from the chloramine level Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) reports (2024).

Nitrate (NO₃)

0.2–2.7 ppm (Low)

Typical 2.7 ppm

Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.

Published by your utility: Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC)'s 2024 water quality report.

Copper at home taps (first draw)

Up to 0.15 ppm (Low)

The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.

Low. Water that sits in household pipes overnight can carry more than this.

Published by your utility: Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC)'s 2024 water quality report.

Chlorine or chloramine at the tap

0–3.9 ppm

Typical 1.9 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: Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC)'s 2024 water quality report.

Water chemistry

General hardness

16–17 ppm

Typical 16 ppm

Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.

Published by your utility: Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC)'s website.

Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)

Supplier's figure

40–43 ppm

Typical 42 ppm

Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.

From the utility that supplies yours: MWRA, which supplies Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC).

pH

Supplier's figure

9.3–9.7

Typical 9.5

Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.

From the utility that supplies yours: MWRA, which supplies Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC).

Who supplies Boston, MA

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.

Look up another city