Manchaca, TX tap water
Supplied mostly by City of Austin Water & Wastewater, plus 2 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)
Estimate0.01–0.75 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.56 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 City of Austin Water & Wastewater reports (2025).
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 7.1 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.2 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From City of Austin Water & Wastewater's 2025 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2025).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.1–3.1 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: City of Austin Water & Wastewater's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
70–126 ppm
Typical 93 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
Published by your utility: City of Austin Water & Wastewater's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
57–254 ppm
Typical 60 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
7.2–9.3
Typical 9.3
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data (2012).
- City of Austin Water & Wastewater adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Manchaca, TX
- 2025 water quality report
City of Austin Water & Wastewater
Serves 56% of residents · Lake or river water · Chloramine
Arroyo Doble Water System
Serves 19% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
Bear Creek Park
Serves 17% of residents · Groundwater fed by surface water · Chlorine
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.