Burbank, CA tap water
Supplied mostly by Burbank-City, Water Dept., plus 2 other utilities. 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 0.34 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.34 ppm (Low)
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 San Jose Water reports (2025).
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)
1.5–29 ppm (Low)
Typical 2.7 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From California Water Board lab results; San Jose Water's 2025 water quality report (2023–2026).
Copper at home taps
Up to 1.4 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.08 ppm
Low. Water that sits in household pipes overnight can carry more than this.
From California Water Board lab results; San Jose Water's 2025 water quality report (2023–2026).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
1.4 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: San Jose Water's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
99–452 ppm
Typical 151 ppm
Moderately hard. Great for livebearers, and most community fish adapt.
From California Water Board lab results; San Jose Water's 2025 water quality report (2023–2026).
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
68–250 ppm
Typical 124 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
pH
7.6–8.4
Typical 8.2
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From California Water Board lab results (2023–2026).
Total dissolved solids
180–520 ppm
Typical 397 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 Board lab results; San Jose Water's 2025 water quality report (2023–2026).
- San Jose Water and Santa Clara Valley Water District add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Burbank, CA
Burbank-City, Water Dept.
Serves 54% of residents · Buys water from Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. · Chloramine
- 2025 water quality report
San Jose Water
Serves 46% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Serves 46% of residents · Lake or river water · 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.