Brownsville, TX tap water
Supplied mostly by Brownsville Public Utilities Board, plus 1 other utility. Here's what the 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 0.85 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
EstimateUp to 1.39 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.85 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 Brownsville Public Utilities Board reports (2024).
Nitrite (NO₂)
0.03–0.2 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.11 ppm
Some nitrite shows up in this tap water, which can happen in chloramine systems, and it goes into the tank with each water change.
From EPA monitoring data (2013).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.7–1.1 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.9 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From EPA monitoring data; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which supplies El Jardin WSC (2012–2019).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.01–0.03 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: Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0–5.7 ppm
Typical 3.5 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: Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
77–355 ppm
Typical 77 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
From Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which supplies El Jardin WSC.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
76–148 ppm
Typical 76 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which supplies El Jardin WSC.
pH
7.9–8.5
Typical 8.1
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which supplies El Jardin WSC.
Total dissolved solids
719–918 ppm
Typical 719 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 Brownsville Public Utilities Board's 2024 water quality report; Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which supplies El Jardin WSC.
- Brownsville Public Utilities Board and El Jardin WSC add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Brownsville, TX
- 2024 water quality report
Brownsville Public Utilities Board
Serves 77% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
El Jardin WSC
Serves 16% of residents · Buys water from Brownsville Public Utilities Board · 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.