Ettrick, VA tap water
Supplied mostly by City of Petersburg, 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 0.57 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.02–1.02 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.57 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 Chesterfield County Department of Utilities reports (2025).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.1–4.5 ppm (Low)
Typical 4.2 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
Published by your utility: Chesterfield County Department of Utilities' 2025 water quality report.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
Up to 0.3 ppm (Worth knowing)
The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.
Shrimp and snails are sensitive to copper. Water that sits in household pipes picks up the most; it drops once the tap has run for a minute.
Published by your utility: Chesterfield County Department of Utilities' 2025 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.1–4.2 ppm
Typical 2.3 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: Chesterfield County Department of Utilities' 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
34–70 ppm
Typical 51 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
Published by your utility: Chesterfield County Department of Utilities' website.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Supplier's figure16–44 ppm
Typical 37 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From the utility that supplies yours: Appomattox River Water Authority, which supplies City of Petersburg; EPA monitoring data; Appomattox River Water Authority, which supplies City of Colonial Heights (2012–2019).
pH
Supplier's figure6.3–8
Typical 6.3
Acidic. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From the utility that supplies yours: Appomattox River Water Authority, which supplies City of Petersburg; Chesterfield County Department of Utilities' website; Appomattox River Water Authority, which supplies City of Colonial Heights (2012–2019).
- Chesterfield County Department of Utilities adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Ettrick, VA
City of Petersburg
Serves 62% of residents · Buys water from Appomattox River Water Authority · Chloramine
- 2025 water quality report
Chesterfield County Department of Utilities
Serves 42% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
City of Colonial Heights
Serves 18% of residents · Buys water from Appomattox River Water Authority · 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.