East San Gabriel, CA tap water
Supplied mostly by Sunny Slope Water Co., plus 3 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)
Estimate0.34–0.73 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.34 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 Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) reports (2024).
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data; California Water Board lab results (2018–2023).
Nitrate (NO₃)
3.6–28 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 12 ppm
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From California Water Board lab results; EPA monitoring data; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2012–2026).
Copper at home taps
0.05–0.26 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.06 ppm
Low. Water that sits in household pipes overnight can carry more than this.
From California Water Board lab results; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2024–2025).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
1.4–3 ppm
Typical 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: Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
17–303 ppm
Typical 95 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
From California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2023–2026).
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
99–210 ppm
Typical 170 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From California Water Board lab results; California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2023–2026).
pH
6.5–8.4
Typical 7.9
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment; EPA monitoring data; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2018–2026).
Total dissolved solids
160–690 ppm
Typical 250 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; California Water Board lab results, measured before treatment; Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)'s 2024 water quality report (2023–2026).
Who supplies East San Gabriel, CA
Sunny Slope Water Co.
Serves 34% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
San Gabriel County WD
Serves 32% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
Cal-Am Water Company - East Pasadena
Serves 21% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
- 2024 water quality report
Pasadena Water and Power (PWP)
Serves 10% of residents · Buys water from Metropolitan Water Dist. of So. Cal. · 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.