Highlands Ranch, CO tap water
Supplied by Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District. 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 a little ammonia. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 0.8 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.2 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
Published by your utility: Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District's 2024 water quality report.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
Up to 0.57 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: Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District's 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
188–293 ppm
Typical 206 ppm
Moderately hard. Great for livebearers, and most community fish adapt.
Published by your utility: Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District's website.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Not published yet
We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.
pH
Not published yet
We haven't found this number yet. A drop test kit gives you your exact reading.
Total dissolved solids
97–645 ppm
Typical 326 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
Published by your utility: Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District's 2024 water quality report.
- Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
- Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Highlands Ranch, CO
- 2024 water quality report
Highlands Ranch Water and Sanitation District
Serves 95% 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.